From 1961 to 1985, the Soviet Union launched 17 missions to our other planetary neighbor. The US has since mapped Venus' surface by radar and deliberately vaporized the Magellan probe in the planet's atmosphere, but the last probes to land on Venus were Vega 1 and Vega 2, sent by the Soviet Union in 1985.

Now Russia is looking to go back to Venus, with the help of the European Space Agency. The Venera D mission would be a thorough, multi-faceted exploration of Venus, with an orbiting spacecraft, air balloons, a lander, and a kite-like "wind flyer," which would harness the winds of Venus to stay indefinitely aloft over the surface. It will not only be an expensive undertaking, but a great engineering challenge to develop crafts that can survive Venus' high temperatures and harsh conditions. Soviet landers lasted mere hours on the surface; Russian scientists working on Venera D had hoped to develop spacecraft and instruments that could last an entire 30 days, though they now think 24 hours is a more sensible goal.

Even a single day on Venus will prove difficult, but Russia is consulting with other space programs also turning toward Venus, and are officially scheduled to launch Venera D in 2016.

Russia plots return to Venus [BBC]

In the Godzilla mythos, King Ghidora was an alien creature that came to Earth from Venus, where it had wiped out all civilization. This was only the latest of many civilizations destroyed by the space dragon, who would go on to become Godzilla's arch-nemesis and Annalee's avatar. But even if the PLANET C orbiter fails to find any kaiju, it will still be a landmark mission that will teach us a great deal about Venus' weather and surface.

By using several cameras and measuring the temperature in the atmosphere, the orbiter will be able to differentiate clouds from surface features, resulting in accurate photos of the planet below. If you speak Japanese and happen to have a planetary probe gathering dust in your garage, you can even apply to send a microprobe piggy-backed onto the PLANET C mission. Image by: JAXA.

Developing a high-performance detector for seeing through the real surface of Venus. [JAXA]

Because of the immense atmospheric pressure on Venus (more than 90 times higher than sea level Earth air pressure), it's unlikely that a volcano there would erupt explosively. However, it could emit sulfur dioxide into the upper atmosphere as liquid lava flows down the volcano's flank. The Venus Express looks at the sun through Venus' atmosphere, then uses spectroscopy to identify the chemicals there. It observed a more than 60 percent drop in sulfur dioxide levels over just a few days, strong evidence of an intermittent source of that gas. ESA scientists want to use more spectroscopy to spot a tell-tale gas plume, or infrared sensors to find volcanic hot spots. Photo by NASA.

Search For Active Volcanoes On Venus In High Gear. [Science Daily]

The interview is one of 65 just made available online by the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Covering the years 1957 and 1958, the collection includes interviews with such notables as birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, future secretary of state Henry Kissinger—and UFO investigator Major Donald E. Keyhoe.

Venus Rises takes place 50 years in the future, after a cataclysm has wiped out Earth. Humans have settled on Venus and Mars, using mostly crappy technology from abandoned government space projects. The Venusians become the working class, toiling endlessly for the "social elite" of Mars. When Venus Rises begins, a conflict is brewing between the two planets, and a group of friends on a refueling station orbiting Earth get caught in the middle.

Writer/director J.G. Birdsall mostly has experience working on Star Trek fan films, which could be a bad sign. But Smallville/The O.C. scribe C.S. Arnold is also involved, as a writer as well as actor. In any case, Birdsall is probably right when he says shows like Venus Rises are the future of televised science fiction. Reality shows are driving out scripted shows on broadcast TV, and science fiction that takes place in space, or the future, is too expensive and lacks a guaranteed audience. So direct-to-web productions like Venus Rises (or Lady Apocalypse) may pick up some of the slack. The only question is whether they can shed the stigma (and attitude) of "fan films."

• Turns out the time-honored "dudes fighting over a lady" thing isn't really that common outside the human world. If you look at how most species behave in nature, often the ladies are fighting to the death to get a few ounces of precious sperm. A new study looks at how lionesses and female antelopes go into sexual frenzies and fight each other for the right to get with males. [LiveScience]
• Now you can make cash if you save the forest. At least, that's the promise that's luring a lot of countries to the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference, where everybody is trying to go green but still rake in the same amount of dough they'd get from filling the atmosphere with carbon. [Eurekalert] Hot pix of Venus and why you are stupid after the jump.
• Yes, Venus has lightning. Why is that such big news? Oh right, it's the pictures. [Space.com]
  
• People are living way too long, and that's screwing up everybody's pension plans. A recent British study showed that dying younger is better for retirement. [Eurekalert]
  
• Apparently you're stupid not just because your parents are. Maybe it was your environment that made you dumb. New Scientist reports on several findings that show there is no one "intelligence gene" that determines whether you'll get that Ph.D. or not. In fact, even people with genes that indicate potential intelligence can be ground down into dumbasses through exposure to toxins or bad teachers. [New Scientist] AP Photo by Don Ryan.