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MacSA

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 4, 2003
1,803
5
UK
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=39104

ESA's Venus Express has returned the first-ever images of the Venusian south pole, from a distance of 206 452 kilometres, showing surprisingly clear structures and unexpected detail. The images were taken 12 April during the spacecraft's initia capture orbit after successful arrival on 11 April 2006.

The initial, low-quality images were taken from an extreme distance of 206 452 km from the planet, yet caught scientists' attention, particularly with the surprisingly clear structures and unexpected details shown in the VIRTIS spectrometer images.


VIRITS-combi.jpg
 
Pretty cool. Actually a friend of mine emailed me today rather proudly boasting that he made parts of Venus Express. He works for a precision engineering firm and made parts for the hydraulics in the engine for the firm that put the engine together. Pretty cool claim to fame and i'm totally jealous of him :)
 
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