Two spacecraft passed Venus soon this week, and we’re constantly getting more data from this rare double flyby. The research team has even translated some of this data into a sound you can hear below.
BepiColombo is a joint mission to Mercury by the Japanese space agency JAXA and the European Space Agency, and Solar Orbiter is a joint mission between ESA and NASA. There are no missions focused on Venus. Both spaceships need planets for gravity to help them get on their final destination path. But the difference is not to miss the opportunity to observe Venus up close, as detailed recently ESA Blog Post.
BepiColombo The first picture of Venus He came to Earth a few days ago. The spacecraft’s Italian Spring Accelerometer (ISA) records the spacecraft’s acceleration as it churns Venus. The research team working on this instrument has translated the acceleration data into an audible frequency, so that we can already hear the transit of Venus BepiColombo, in a sense. watch the following:
The sound is a bit like bouncing through a hollow tube. Some of the rumbling here and there could be attributed to the way Venus’s gravity affects the spacecraft, according to the European Space Agency. release, and the way BepiColombo reacts to rising temperatures as it passes through the planet. (The temperature increased by about 230 degrees Fahrenheit, from -148 degrees to 50 degrees Celsius.)
The team was also able to translate fluctuations in Venus’ magnetic field into sound, using a magnetometer aboard the two spacecraft. In the audio below, one can hear how the solar wind interacts with the planet.
This data looks a bit more… static? Frequency changes as BepiColombo passes where Venus’ magnetosphere and solar wind meet (0:18 in video). The European Space Agency said a more detailed analysis of the data collected by the two spacecraft would take place over the next few weeks.
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The Solar Orbiter caught a dramatic view of the planet’s dazzled, as you can see here:
The solar probe will continue to make regular oscillations on Venus as it bounces between the planet and the sun, collecting data on our star’s activity over the 11-year solar cycle. The orbiter will fly close to Earth on November 27, the last time it will pass our faint blue dot.
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