There are so many difficulties in trying to put a lander or probe on the surface of Venus. Unfortunately, the planet is much too hot for landers to survive very long. The crushing pressures of the atmosphere and the hot temperatures have killed off all previous attempts thus far.
On the other hand, a new technology might be able to help possible future Venusian lander missions to last longer in these conditions so we can get a better glimpse of what it's like on Venus.
The secret comes by way of a special kind of silicon circuit that can continue to function the way silicon circuits should, but at higher temperatures. This is typically the weak point of every mission, as the heat tends to render the circuitry useless after no more than just a few hours.
Most previous attempts to photograph the Venusian surface resulted in missions lasting not much longer than an hour, but the testing of this new silicon circuit technology in a controlled chamber meant to replicate the Venusian experience resulted in more than 521 hours of successful performance.
The future indeed looks bright for exploring Venus, and we might just finally have what we need to get some more data about the planet's geology up close.
