SITUATION #12

On 1 March 1982, the Venera 13 probe from the Soviet Venera programme for the exploration of Venus landed on its surface at 7.5°S 303°E. The probe contained two optical-mechanical cameras that scanned the planet and transmitted the images back to Earth in real time. The camera system was developed by A. S. Selivanov’s team at the Russian Institute of Space Device Engineering (Moscow), and employed a scanning mirror and a pinpoint photometer which allowed a more precise measurement of luminance at each pixel, returning the entire landscape as a single seamless image.On 1 March 1982, the Venera 13 probe from the Soviet Venera programme for the exploration of Venus landed on its surface at 7.5°S 303°E. The probe contained two optical-mechanical cameras that scanned the planet and transmitted the images back to Earth in real time. The camera system was developed by A. S. Selivanov’s team at the Russian Institute of Space Device Engineering (Moscow), and employed a scanning mirror and a pinpoint photometer which allowed a more precise measurement of luminance at each pixel, returning the entire landscape as a single seamless image.The true colour of the surface of Venus is difficult to judge because the planet’s atmosphere filters out blue light.

More about Soviet space cameras: mentallandscape.com/V_Cameras.htm