Venus probe ends after it runs out of fuel

PARIS - The space probe that spent eight years carrying out a detailed analysis of Venus is out of fuel and will float to a fiery demise in the planet's toxic atmosphere, the European Space Agency has announced.

Venus Express "was running on fumes," Adam Williams, ESA's acting manager of the craft said on Tuesday. "We are pleased to have been pushing the boundaries right down to the last drop."

Before its end, which is expected to occur in the next several weeks, Express provided data that helped scientists draw important conclusions about the planet, which is similar to Earth's size and mass.  

Data collected by Express show Venus is still geologically active and may have once had oceans similar to those on Earth.

Contrary to its alluring name, Venus is now the planet from hell, with an atmosphere so hot, toxic and heavy that any visitor would risk being simultaneously melted, suffocated and crushed.

The planet's searing surface temperature of 477 Celsius (890 Fahrenheit) is the hottest in the Solar System.

Launched in November 2005, Venus Express was pulled into Venus's orbit on April 11, 2006 to begin study of the planet. Its initial mission was extended several times and last spring its masters at ESA sent the probe on one last adventure.

Scientists ordered the craft on a controlled drop toward Venus in mid-2014, bringing it as close as it had ever been to the planet in an effort to explore previously unknown layers of the atmosphere.

After surviving its journey to the noxious atmosphere, Venus Express returned to its normal orbit in July. But then scientists realised the probe was slowing drifting back to the planet.

Contact with the Express became limited and unstable at the end of November.

One of the probe's studies discovered lava flows on Venus that dated to 2.5 million years ago, "just yesterday on geological timescales and possibly even much less than that," ESA said.

Hydrogen in Venus's atmosphere also suggests it once had a lot of water, which is now mostly gone, and possibly even oceans like those on Earth.

"While the science collection phase of the mission is now complete, the data will keep the scientific community busy for many years to come," said Hakan Svedhem, a project scientist at ESA.

AFP