NASA Recreates Venus' Extreme Atmosphere
Scientists interested in studying Venus, as well as other extreme places in the solar system, now have an option besides expensive, one-off space missions. A new test rig at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Ohio can replicate the planet's lead-melting temperature, crushing pressure and noxious mix of atmospheric gases to create a similar hell on Earth.
Inside the 14-ton, stainless steel, 3- by 6-foot chamber, temperatures can soar beyond 900 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than the surface of Venus. At the same time, pressure can reach nearly 100 times the weight of Earth's atmosphere at sea level.
Add carbon dioxide, which comprises 96 percent of Venus' atmosphere, nitrogen and a sprinkling of other chemicals and scientists can replicate the superfluid physics that shape another world.
Article:
http://www.space.com/30447-hell-earth-nasa-recreates-venus-extreme-atmosphere.html
Reference:
https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-research-helps-unravel-mysteries-of-the-venusian-atmosphere
http://pages.uoregon.edu/jimbrau/astr121/Notes/Chapter9.html
#venus #nasa #atmosphere #space #research
superfluid?
ReplyDeleteBoris Borcic it's a funky, zero viscosity state:
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfluidity
Sean Walker I know that -- what I don't know is why to mention it in the context of the atmosphere of Venus.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to go back and read - I thought it was mentioned in the context of the env simulator
ReplyDeleteIsn't helium removed - from Venus's atmosphere - by the solar wind following ionization above the plasmapause?
ReplyDeleteSuperconductivity & superfluidity can be observed on the Earth only in laboratories...hence why we may just be lucky enough to know and learn more about Venus atmosphere.
My take is that the space.com writer derived a innovative meaning for "superfluid" via raw etymology and the observations that the atmosphere of Venus is both a fluid... and superlative in the described ways... which are ways that don't relate to fluidity as is the case for superfluid helium or neutronium.
ReplyDeleteI like the image for its historical perspective value, since figuring out the atmosphere of Venus was what got the first scientists worried about AGW on Earth, over a century ago.