VGNP Cover Photo Caption
This computer-generated image shows the Venus Geophysical Network
Pathfinder (VGNP) lander on the surface of Venus. The truncated
conical spacecraft is just over 2 m in diameter and the back surface
is about 0.8 m above the ground. It weighs just under 300 kg, and
includes two cameras (one for imaging during descent and one for
surface imaging, two seismometers (both long- and short-period), a
magnetometer, and several meteorology units. Two booms can be seen:
the vertical boom houses the magnetometer sensor, the surface camera,
and three anemometers deployed at 1.28, 1.65, and 2.12 m above the
surface. The lower boom deploys the long-period seismometer sensor to
a distance of about 1 m from the lander. On top of the lander,
beneath the boom, is the cylindical housing of the radioisotope
thermoelectric generator, which generates 6500 thermal watts to supply
260 electrical watts needed to power a three-stage refrigeration
system. The system is capable of cooling the electronics, housed in a
dewer, to about 80 deg C. The VGNP is designed to survive in the 460 deg
C, 93 bar ambient venusian environment for at least one Earth year.
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