{"id":12247,"date":"2024-10-17T18:04:33","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T22:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/old-data-yields-new-secrets-as-nasas-davinci-preps-for-venus-trip\/"},"modified":"2024-10-17T18:04:33","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T22:04:33","slug":"old-data-yields-new-secrets-as-nasas-davinci-preps-for-venus-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/old-data-yields-new-secrets-as-nasas-davinci-preps-for-venus-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Old Data Yields New Secrets as NASA\u2019s DAVINCI Preps for Venus Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

Old Data Yields New Secrets as NASA\u2019s DAVINCI Preps for Venus Trip<\/h2>\n

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Due to launch in the early 2030s, NASA\u2019s DAVINCI mission will investigate whether Venus \u2014 a sweltering world wrapped in an atmosphere of noxious gases \u2014 once had oceans and continents like Earth.<\/p>\n

Consisting of a flyby spacecraft and descent probe, DAVINCI will focus on a mountainous region called Alpha Regio, a possible ancient continent. Though a handful of international spacecraft plunged through Venus\u2019 atmosphere between 1970 and 1985, DAVINCI\u2019s probe will be the first to capture images of this intriguing terrain ever taken from below Venus\u2019 thick and opaque clouds.<\/p>\n

But how does a team prepare for a mission to a planet that hasn\u2019t seen an atmospheric probe in nearly 50 years, and that tends to crush or melt its spacecraft visitors?<\/p>\n

Scientists leading the DAVINCI<\/a> mission started by using modern data-analysis techniques to pore over decades-old data from previous Venus missions. Their goal is to arrive at our neighboring planet with as much detail as possible. This will allow scientists to most effectively use the probe\u2019s descent time to collect new information that can help answer longstanding questions about Venus\u2019 evolutionary path and why it diverged drastically from Earth\u2019s.<\/p>\n

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\"Two<\/a><\/figure>
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On the left, a new and more detailed view of Venus\u2019 Alpha Regio region developed by scientists on NASA\u2019s DAVINCI mission to Venus, due to launch in the early 2030s. On the right is a less detailed map created using radar altimeter data collected by NASA\u2019s Magellan spacecraft in the early 1990s. The colors on the maps depict topography, with dark blues identifying low elevations and browns identifying high elevations. To make the map on the left, the DAVINCI science team re-analyzed Magellan data and supplemented it with radar data collected on three occasions from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, and used machine vision computer models to scrutinize the data and fill in gaps in information. The red ellipses on each image mark the area DAVINCI\u2019s probe will descend over as it collects data on its way toward the surface. <\/div>\n
Jim Garvin\/NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Between 1990 and 1994, NASA\u2019s Magellan spacecraft used radar imaging and altimetry to map the topography of Alpha Regio from Venus\u2019 orbit. Recently, NASA\u2019s DAVINICI\u2019s team sought more detail from these maps, so scientists applied new techniques to analyze Magellan\u2019s radar altimeter data. They then supplemented this data with radar images taken on three occasions from the former Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and used machine vision computer models to scrutinize the data and fill in gaps in information at new scales (less than 0.6 miles, or 1 kilometer).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a result, scientists improved the resolution of Alpha Regio maps tenfold, predicting new geologic patterns on the surface and prompting questions about how these patterns could have formed in Alpha Regio\u2019s mountains.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Benefits of Looking Backward<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Old data offers many benefits to new missions, including information about what frequencies, parts of spectrum, or particle sizes earlier instruments covered so that new instruments can fill in the gaps.<\/p>\n

At NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive<\/a>, which is managed out of NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, staff restore and digitize data from old spacecraft. That vintage data, when compared with modern observations, can show how a planet changes over time, and can even lead to new discoveries long after missions end. Thanks to new looks at Magellan observations, for instance, scientists recently found evidence of modern-day volcanic activity on Venus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Three<\/figure>
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The three images in this carousel were taken in March 2024 at NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The first shows stacked boxes of microfilm with data from Apollo missions. The middle image shows miniaturized records from NASA\u2019s 1964 Mariner 4 flyby mission to Mars. And the final image shows a view of Jupiter from NASA\u2019s Pioneer 10 flyby mission to the outer planets, which launched on March 2, 1972. <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n
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\"Three<\/figure>
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The three images in this carousel were taken in March 2024 at NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The first shows stacked boxes of microfilm with data from Apollo missions. The middle image shows miniaturized records from NASA\u2019s 1964 Mariner 4 flyby mission to Mars. And the final image shows a view of Jupiter from NASA\u2019s Pioneer 10 flyby mission to the outer planets, which launched on March 2, 1972.<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n
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\"Three<\/figure>
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The three images in this carousel were taken in March 2024 at NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The first shows stacked boxes of microfilm with data from Apollo missions. The middle image shows miniaturized records from NASA\u2019s 1964 Mariner 4 flyby mission to Mars. And the final image shows a view of Jupiter from NASA\u2019s Pioneer 10 flyby mission to the outer planets, which launched on March 2, 1972. <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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