science

Venera 12

Venera 12 is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Venera 12 rather than just read about it. In short: The Venera 12 (Russian: Венера-12 meaning Venus 12) was an uncrewed Soviet space mission designed to explore the planet Venus. Venera 12 was launched on 14 September 1978 at 02:25:13 UTC.

Key takeaways

Venera 12 belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Venera 12 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Venera 12 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Venera 12 (Russian: Венера-12 meaning Venus 12) was an uncrewed Soviet space mission designed to explore the planet Venus. Venera 12 was launched on 14 September 1978 at 02:25:13 UTC. After separating from its flight platform on 19 December 1978, the Venera 12 lander entered the Venus atmosphere two days later at 11.2 kilometres per second (7.0 mi/s). During its descent, the lander employed aerodynamic braking followed by parachute braking, ending with atmospheric braking. After a nearly one-hour descent, a soft landing was made at 06:30 Moscow time (0330 UT) on 21 December. Touchdown speed was 7–8 metres per second (23–26 ft/s); landing coordinates are 7°S 294°E. After touchdown, the lander transmitted data to the flight platform for about 110 minutes until the flight platform, which remained in a heliocentric orbit, moved out of range. Venera 11 and 12 carried identical instruments.

Flight platform The Venera 12 flight platform carried solar wind detectors, ionosphere electron instruments, and two gamma ray burst detectors – the Soviet-built KONUS and the French-built SIGNE 2. The SIGNE 2 detectors were simultaneously flown on Venera 12 and Prognoz 7 to allow for triangulation of gamma ray sources. Before and after the Venus flyby, Venera 11 and Venera 12 yielded detailed time-profiles for 143 gamma-ray bursts, resulting in the first ever catalog of such events. The last gamma-ray burst reported by Venera 12 occurred on 5 January 1980. Venera 12 used its ultraviolet spectrometer to study comet Bradfield (C/1979 Y1) on 13 February 1980, and reported spectrophotometric data until 19 March 1980. The list of flight platform instruments and experiments are:

30–166 nm Extreme UV spectrometer Compound plasma spectrometer KONUS Gamma-ray burst detector SNEG Gamma-ray burst detector Magnetometer 4 Semiconductor counters 2 Gas-discharge counters 4 Scintillation counters Hemispherical proton telescope The active phase of the science mission for the flight platform ended in April 1980. Venera 12 is currently in heliocentric orbit, with perihelion of 0.69 AU, aphelion of 1.01 AU, eccentricity of 0.19, inclination of 2.3 degrees and orbital period of 284 days.

Lander The Venera 12 descent craft carried instruments designed to study the detailed chemical composition of the atmosphere, the nature of the clouds, and the thermal balance of the atmosphere. These instruments included a gas chromatograph to measure the composition of the Venus atmosphere, instruments to study scattered solar radiation and soil composition, and a device named Groza which was designed to measure atmospheric electrical discharges. Results reported included evidence of lightning and thunder, a high 36Ar/40Ar ratio, and the discovery of carbon monoxide at low altitudes. Each of the Venera 11 and Venera 12 included landers with a pair of cameras, each of which was designed for color imaging. A design flaw prevented the lens caps from separating, resulting in all cameras failing to capture and return images. The list of lander experiments and instruments are:

Backscatter nephelometer Mass spectrometer – MKh-6411 Gas chromatograph – Sigma X-ray fluorospectrometer 360° scanning photometer – IOAV Spectrometer (430–1170 nm) Microphone / anemometer Low-Frequency radio sensor 4 Thermometers 3 Barometers Accelerometer – Bizon Penetrometer – PrOP-V Soil Analysis Device 2 Color Cameras Small solar batteries – MSB

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Venera 12

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Venera 12 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Venera 12 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Venera 12 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Venera 12

In research: Venera 12 appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Venera 12 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Venera 12 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1978 in spaceflight, 1978 in the Soviet Union, 4V-1, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Venera 12 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Venera 12 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Venera 12 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Venera 12 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Venera 12 in simple terms?

The Venera 12 (Russian: Венера-12 meaning Venus 12) was an uncrewed Soviet space mission designed to explore the planet Venus. Venera 12 was launched on 14 September 1978 at 02:25:13 UTC.

Why does Venera 12 matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Venera 12?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Venera 12.