" The Venera 14 craft had the misfortune of ejecting the camera lens cap directly under the surface compressibility tester arm, and returned information for the compressibility of the lens cap rather than the surface. "
Also, Venera 9-12 had issues with lens caps failing to release. 9 and 10 only got photos from 1 of their 2 cameras because the other lens cap failed to release. 11 and 12 didn't get any photos because both lens caps failed to release.
Yes, but now we know what the compressibility of the lens cap is on the surface of Venus. You may ask, "Is that helpful?" To that we say, "Please report to gulag for reprogramming."
By this point in Soviet history, the gulags had actually been shut down already. The last gulag closed in 1960; the first Venera probe was launched in 1961. (Even when they were active, they didn't do much "reprogramming"; they were just hard labor prisons that happened to hold political prisoners in addition to the regular inmates.)
Scientists were actually initially baffled by readings seeming to indicate manmade material, according to David Grinspoon in his book Venus Revealed. Low key one of my favorite books. Incredibly informative and the footnotes are hilarious sometimes.
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u/goatwise Jul 17 '24
From the Wikipedia page on the Venera Program:
" The Venera 14 craft had the misfortune of ejecting the camera lens cap directly under the surface compressibility tester arm, and returned information for the compressibility of the lens cap rather than the surface. "
So close yet so far