Japanese Spacecraft Approaches Venus

August 16, 2010:  For the next few months, Venus will be softly resplendent in the evening sky, a treat for stargazers – but looks can be deceiving.  

Consider this: The Venusian surface is hot enough to melt lead. The planet's 96% carbon dioxide atmosphere is thick and steamy with a corrosive mist of sulfuric acid floating through it. The terrain is forbidding, strewn with craters and volcanic calderas – and bone dry.  

Takeshi Imamura can't wait to get there... 

(Read the rest of http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/16aug_vco/)