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What did the Venera 13 and Venera 14 landers discover about Venusian rocks?
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Venus
Venus photographed in ultraviolet light by the Pioneer Venus Orbiter (Pioneer 12) spacecraft, February 26, 1979. Although Venus's cloud cover is nearly featureless in visible light, ultraviolet imaging reveals distinctive structure and pattern, including global-scale V-shaped bands that open toward the west (left). Added color in the image emulates Venus's yellow-white appearance to the eye.
The Venera 13 and Venera 14 landers utilized X-ray fluorescence instruments to analyze the chemical composition of surface rocks on Venus.12
These missions measured the concentrations of several major elements, including silicon, aluminum, magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, titanium, manganese, and sulfur. The findings revealed that the elemental compositions of the rocks at these landing sites were similar to those of basalt found on Earth.12
In addition to these chemical analyses, the landers provided visual evidence of the surface environment. The Venera 13 lander, in particular, returned color images showing a landscape characterized by flat, slabby, layered rocks and darker, fine-grained soil.23