The Inner Planets - Heaven or Hell?
The 900 degree surface of Venus, taken by the Soviet lander, Venera, just before it was destroyed by the intense heat and pressure.
Part One: “The Inner Planets - Heaven or Hell?”
Host Joseph Campanella introduces us to the history of mankind and the stars. We see man's search throughout recorded time for the meaning behind the lights that shine in the nighttime sky. We explore the means by which humankind expanded its knowledge of the universe above. We then visit the inner planets of our solar system, Mercury and Venus. Dark mysterious worlds which boil in the constant heat of the nearby sun.
The pock-marked surface of Mercury.
We see how Mercury is the place of the most extreme temperature changes in the entire system, from minus 400 degrees at night, to over 700 degrees during it's long day. We discover why Mercury has no atmosphere, and also why it continues to shrink in size at an alarming rate.
We then venture out to Venus, a seemingly beautiful planet, shrouded by delicate yellow clouds. But we find that what appears to be graceful mist-like clouds, are really tiny droplets of sulfuric acid, one of the most corrosive chemicals in the universe.
A view beneath the corrosive atmosphere of Venus reveals a cauldron of volcanic activity.
We learn that Venus has an atmosphere so dense, that the atmospheric pressure on the surface would literally crush a human being instantly. In addition to the brutal pressure and corrosive clouds, we find that the temperature on the surface of Venus is hot enough to boil lead, and destroy any spacecraft that we have built to go there. For all its apparent beauty, Venus turns out to be one of the most inhospitable places in the entire solar system.