Two spacecraft recently flew past Venus in a rare double flyby that captured unique images and data. This data is now being analysed, but scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA) have been able to translate some of it into sounds to help people experience what it would feel like to have a giant planet flying next to them. The ESA shared a video asking people to “enjoy the sights, sounds and ‘feelings’ of a Venus flyby”. It said the video showed first impressions of the data captured by the spacecraft so far.
Enjoy the sights, sounds and ‘feels’ of a #VenusFlyby: our overview of the first impressions of the data so far! Thanks to @bepicolombo & @ESASolarOrbiter teams for sharing these early insights so quickly! #ExploreFarther ????https://t.co/VsJLU02KPNhttps://t.co/agbkUGZJrM
— ESA Science (@esascience) August 13, 2021
The space agency said its Solar Orbiter and BepiColombo spacecraft passed the planet within 33 hours of each other. The Orbiter flew past Venus at a distance of 7,995 km on Aug. 9, while the BepiColombo mission flew by just 552 km from Earth’s surface on Aug. 10, the ESA said in a statement.
It added that the flybys were needed to give the spacecraft a “gravity assistant” to help them reach their next destinations. BepiColombo will fly past Mercury one more time on October 1-2, then enter orbit in 2025.
The Venus flybys required extremely precise deep space navigation work from ESA scientists. During BepiColombo’s flight, the spacecraft felt an expected rapid increase in heat as it moved from the night side to the day side of the planet. The Orbiter also registered a rise of 110 degrees Celsius on one of its eight solar panels, from -100ºC to +10ºC. Inside the spacecraft, due to its isolation, only a 2-3 degree temperature rise was observed.
However, it was not possible to take high-resolution images of Venus with the scientific cameras on board the plane, but both took black-and-white images.
The BepiColombo spacecraft is a joint mission of the European and Japanese space agencies. And the ESA launched the Solar Orbiter project in collaboration with US NASA.
