en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_Venus
2 corrections found
The atmosphere is devoid of molecular oxygen
Venus’s atmosphere is not completely devoid of molecular oxygen; spacecraft measurements have found trace amounts of O2.
Full reasoning
This claim is too absolute. NASA’s Technical Reports Server summarizes direct gas-chromatography measurements of Venus’s lower atmosphere and reports molecular oxygen (69.3 ppm) in one sampled layer. NASA has also described Venus as one of the solar-system bodies that has traces of molecular oxygen in its atmosphere.
That does not mean Venus has an oxygen-rich atmosphere—it is still overwhelmingly carbon dioxide with only tiny traces of O2—but "devoid of molecular oxygen" is incorrect because measured molecular oxygen is present at trace levels.
2 sources
- Venus lower atmospheric composition - Analysis by gas chromatography - NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
The third of these samples showed carbon dioxide (96.4 percent), molecular nitrogen (3.41 percent), water vapor (0.135 percent), molecular oxygen (69.3 ppm)...
- Hubble Finds Oxygen Atmosphere on Jupiter's Moon, Europa - NASA Science
Europa ... is only the third such solar system object beyond Earth (the planets Mars and Venus have traces of molecular oxygen in their atmospheres).
The last European probe was ESA's Venus Express, which was in polar orbit around the planet from 2006 to 2014.
This is outdated: ESA’s BepiColombo spacecraft flew by Venus in 2020 and again in 2021, so Venus Express was not the last European probe to visit Venus.
Full reasoning
This statement was once true, but it is no longer accurate. ESA’s BepiColombo mission, a joint ESA–JAXA spacecraft, performed a Venus flyby on 15 October 2020 and a second flyby in August 2021 on its way to Mercury. That means Venus Express was the last European orbiter dedicated to Venus, but not the last European probe to visit the planet.
Because the sentence says "The last European probe was ESA's Venus Express", it is factually outdated as written.
2 sources
- ESA - BepiColombo flies by Venus en route to Mercury
The ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission has completed the first of two Venus flybys needed to set it on course with the Solar System's innermost planet, Mercury.
- ESA - BepiColombo's first Venus flyby in images
The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission completed its first flyby of Venus on 15 October 2020... During its seven-year cruise ... BepiColombo makes one flyby at Earth, two at Venus and six at Mercury.