Meeting Venus

Somewhere on Venus, hidden from Earth's view by that planet's layer of opaque clouds, rests the shattered remains of a space vehicle bearing a hammer-and-sickle emblem. The craft is Venus III. Catching the world by surprise, the Russians last week announced that their probe had crashed into the planet 38 million miles from Earth.

As usual, the Soviet feat raised more questions than it answered. Originally, the Soviets had launched two large (about one ton each) space vehicles--Venus II and III--within one week of each other last November. The announced purpose was a flypast on either side of Venus, sending back pictures of both views. This led some Western scientists to speculate that Venus III had crashed into Venus by mistake. Not so, announced Moscow, explaining that Venus III was intended to make a soft landing by means of a parachute, but failed. Soft or hard, Sir Bernard Lovell, the director of Britain's Jodrell Bank Observatory, worried that Venus III might have contaminated the planet, raising science-fiction fears of Earth germs multiplying and perhaps taking grotesque forms in virgin territory.

The greater question, of course, was what Soviet science learned from the two probes. Very little is known about Venus. Second only to Mercury in nearness to the sun, its bright reflection makes it the last star to fade at dawn, the first to appear at dusk. In size, it just about equals Earth, and like Earth, it possesses an atmosphere. For years, scientists have speculated that life might exist on Venus. But the U.S.'s Mariner II, passing within 21,600 miles of the planet in 1962, radioed back data indicating that Venus' surface was dry, dead, and very hot--perhaps 800DEG F. Later sightings through telescopes mounted on high-altitude balloons led other scientists to believe that Venus' clouds contained ice or steam, touching off a new argument about what is on the planet.

Moscow may now be able to answer some of the questions. Venus II passed within 15,000 miles of the planet. It relayed to Soviet stations measurements of heat, radiation and meteorite activity before its radio failed, probably as a result of passing near Venus' atmosphere. Venus III may have sent even more vital information, if its radio did not fail too soon. As it plummeted toward impact, Venus Ill's telemetry abruptly ceased. In any case, the flight represented a remarkable display of space navigation. On the heels of it, the U.S. reaffirmed plans to send Mariner V to Venus in 1967.

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