Venera 13

Key facts

Mission & specifications

Mission

Venera 13 returned the first colour photographs and the first soil analysis from the surface of Venus — and did so on a world that destroys spacecraft within hours. Launched on 30 October 1981, its lander separated from a flyby bus and descended through the sulphuric-acid clouds, touching down on 1 March 1982 on a rolling volcanic plain east of Phoebe Regio. The surface conditions were merciless: about 457 °C and 89 times Earth's atmospheric pressure. Working against the clock, the lander photographed its surroundings through colour filters, revealing a landscape of flat, orange-brown rock slabs under a hazy yellow sky. A spring-loaded arm drilled into the ground and delivered a sample into a sealed chamber, where an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer identified the rock as resembling basalt. Microphones even captured the faint sounds of the wind and the drilling — the first sounds ever recorded on another planet. Built to last just 32 minutes, Venera 13 survived for 127 minutes before the heat and pressure finally overwhelmed it. Together with its twin Venera 14, it produced the most detailed view of the Venusian surface obtained for decades, and remains one of the most successful planetary landings ever attempted.

1. 1981Launch toward VenusLaunch

   Venera 13 departs with a flyby bus and a hardened surface lander.

2. 1982Landing east of Phoebe RegioLanding

   Descends through the acid clouds and sets down on a volcanic plain.

3. 1982First colour images and sounds from VenusMilestone

   Photographs orange-brown rock, drills and analyses the soil, and records the first sounds from another planet.

4. 1982Crushed after 127 minutesMission end

   Survives more than four times its 32-minute design life before the heat and pressure win.

Images

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