Author Topic: European Venus Express Spacecraft May Be Out of Fuel (Read 724 times)

Geo · « **Reply #15 on:** December 09, 2014, 08:20:21 pm »

Since I have no idea how dense Venus atmosphere is at 130 km+ altitude, I can't make an informed opinion.
However, the 100 km mark is used in Earth orbit as to have reached 'space', but that's still an unstable orbit. Low Earth orbit seems at least 160 km up so only minute 'whisps' of our atmosphere can put 'drag' on an object circling Earth at that altitude.
Even if Venus' atmosphere was only as dense as Earth's, it would reach a higher altitude because of the lower surface gravity of the planet (90% Earth's).