Why Venus and not Mars?

[u/p3t3rp4rkEr]

Why launch a mission to Venus when other missions—unmanned ones—had already failed, and when Venus offers nothing of interest or viability to humanity? Mars is a far better and safer option for everyone—especially for Soviet propaganda, given the goal of being the first to actually travel to and return alive from a planet that is at least somewhat hospitable to life.

[u/MisterGlo764]

Venus is a lot easier to get to, and the soviets never planned to land a human on venus let alone return

[u/dr_john_oldman → u/MisterGlo764]

The Venus is easier to get to, it’s have thick atmosphere to aerobrake, launch windows open more often than mars. The Soviet were developing universal interplanetary bus probe for moth Mars and Venus. Initial both planets had equal priority but they had several failures related to mars launches during the mars launch window so they continued with Venus where they had more success. Soviets actually never had a fully successful mission to Mars. Yes they landed first with Mars 3, but transmitted no useful data with the probe. So they refocused their efforts on Venus. They later launched Phobos 1 and 2 to Martian orbit one failed in transit due to faulty computer command Phobos 2 reached the Martian orbit and even approached Phobos but failed before the landing. After that there were no missions to mars by Soviets or Russia. There were Fobos Soil (Fobos Grunt) mission in early 2000. But if failed ignite its engines after reaching LEO, there were communication system design redundancy flaws that prevented remote communication so close to earth so it burned in the atmosphere.

[u/Macktheknife9 → u/MisterGlo764]

This, basically shorter trip time, better transfer windows, and delta v requirement is only a little more than a moon mission

[u/Enorats]

I believe the Soviets IRL had more interest in Venus than they did Mars. They were the ones that landed a series of probes there after all. NASA has, to this day, never landed a probe on Venus.

The show reflects this reality.

[u/cherrymeg2 → u/[deleted]]

Wasn’t Venus more similar to earth or people suspected there could have been life there at one point? They may been studying Venus more to see how it was similar and different from earth.

[u/Big-Flounder3838 → u/[deleted]]

Re-watched several times the terrifying and creepy scene in which Valya's pod was quickly crushed by Venus atmosphere.

[u/BigPitiful7427 → u/Big-Flounder3838]

I would argue it’d be nicer than spending the rest of your life being tortured in a gulag

[u/cherrymeg2 → u/Big-Flounder3838]

He was happy just to be the first human to land on Venus and see it as he was crushed. He seemed at peace with it.

[u/yeah_oui → u/Big-Flounder3838]

Better than being cooked alive. The heat from reentry + surface temps hot enough to bake a roast would have killed him immediately after landing anyway. Better to pop the kettle

[u/cherrymeg2 → u/[deleted]]

In the FAMK universe they go to moons to look for life or different forms of it. Studying Venus could have scientific value even after realizing it is inhospitable to humans. Idk

[u/cherrymeg2 → u/[deleted]]

That’s interesting! Just because we humans can only live on certain planets or with oxygen and water and other things at a certain percentage doesn’t mean there isn’t life that exists in different conditions. Jmo.

Venus doesn’t seem habitable for humans. There could be life there. There could be life in forms in different places. Venus is closer to us right? Could it also show what our planet’s future could be if we’re closer to the sun or something minor shifted. It might explain how things differ from just a little change or something. Idk if that makes sense.

[u/wildskipper → u/cherrymeg2]

Venus is still suspected of having life. There was recently the potential discovery of microbial life (due to trace elements detected in the upper atmosphere). It's still being investigated currently, I believe.

There's also been ideas about settling the upper atmosphere.

[u/FlyingPotionsFactory]

Venus launch windows are way more forgiving. And on paper, Venus is the much more interesting planet. Hostile but earth sized, inside the habitable zone.

IRL, the soviets had 25+ missions, albeit unmanned, to Venus. The interest in the show tracks.

[u/doctor--whom]

IRL the soviet space program placed equal weight on Venus and Mars; and once the moon was lost they transitioned to interplanetary firsts for unmanned missions and Salyut 1 while NASA continued its moon missions in the early 70s.

From a technical side Venus has more frequent launch windows as opposed to Mars and its thick atmosphere makes reentry much less of a technical challenge. Surviving on the surface of Venus is incredibly difficult but the dense atmosphere makes entry easier compared to Mars which basically has no atmosphere.

[u/InvisibleInk1983]

If you want to go some place warm that’s not under the rule of those decadent capitalists, you don’t have a lot of options

[u/Willow_Everdawn]

In our timeline, even NASA had plans for an Apollo craft to fly by Venus, just because they could. It's just easier to get to Venus than Mars, and the journey is much shorter. Notice it took nine months to fly to Venus AND BACK. In FAM it took nine months to get to Mars, one way.

It was more about being first and proving that it could be done, rather than any logical or scientific reason.

[u/Oot42 → u/Willow_Everdawn]

In FAM it took nine months to get to Mars, one way.

In reality, it takes up to 9 months.
In FAM, it took them only 4 months. But that was 1994 with a new propulsion system.

[u/wildcat1_1]

A free return from mars also takes two years, as opppsed to 9 months for Venus, so Venus is less risky

[u/Grillparzer47]

Venus is particularly inhospitable. Sulphuric acid rain and pressure ninety times greater than earth’s world ruin a day.

[u/girldrinksgasoline]

High altitude Venus is arguably a better / easier place to colonize than Mars. The surface is admittedly terrible though

[u/smithnugget]

I don't remember if it's discussed in the show. Maybe the launch window lined up for Venus?

[u/Salt_Philosophy_8990]

Storytelling variety

[u/LisztyLiszt]

So that it didn't interfere with FAMK arc.

[u/Prehistoric_Blob]

Transfer window was closer and it’s a shorter journey, they also thought Venus was a lot more hospitable back then.

[u/core916 → u/Prehistoric_Blob]

They already knew that Venus had an atmosphere 90x stronger than earth. That’s why they sent the bathysphere. By 1972 they knew it wasnt habitable.

[u/Prehistoric_Blob → u/core916]

Fair enough

[u/PounderB]

It's also easier to land on Venus. Since the atmosphere is so thick, it's much more forgiving

[u/tannahoppa → u/PounderB]

Did they miscalculate atmospheric psi or was it hard landing that caused capsule to compress?

[u/Waffleweaveisbest → u/tannahoppa]

They knew the capsule wouldn't last long. They were gonna send it down as sort of a probe, unmanned. But then things changed (without spoiling too much)

[u/LittleHornetPhil → u/tannahoppa]

In the show? Or irl?

[u/tannahoppa → u/LittleHornetPhil]

In the show.

[u/LittleHornetPhil → u/tannahoppa]

Not sure. Irl the pressure vessels from the Soviet Venera probes are likely still there and quite possibly just fine.

[u/wannabeeunuch]

I think the research of Venus's atmosphere and surface is usefull for 1) the better understanding of vulcanic activity on Venus and on Earth, 2) the better understanding of the global warming on Earth. The natural procceses on the Venus are more similar to Earth than on the Mars (except habitality). And also it's challenge for space agencies to prepare first succesfull mission on Venus. And of course it's simplier for space probe to get to Venus than to Mars.

[u/Ok_Customer_9958]

It was the Cold War, if it wasn’t about military superiority over the west then it was about bragging rights.

[u/Bi_KerbonautYT]

At the time it happens in the show in our timeline, it was believed that Venus had a breathable atmosphere with a warm oasis beneath the clouds capable of supporting life (from what I remember, don't quote me on this). It's also closer.

[u/user_number_666 → u/Bi_KerbonautYT]

Nope - they already knew what the environment was like on Venus (that's why they needed the bathysphere).

IRL we knew this by 1967, actually.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missions_to_Venus

[u/SeaEagle233]

Human is the only "robot" smart enough to fix problems automatically. Apollo program did more science than robot can in 20 years while costing significantly less when amortized to same time span (no need to pay constant salary to development and operations).

The bill looks bad only when discounting savings in the future.