NASA selects a sample return mission to Venus

In Dante Alighieri's epic poem The Divine Comedy, the famous words "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" adorn the gates of hell. Interestingly enough, Dante's vision of hell is an apt description of what conditions are like on Venus. With an average temperature of 450°C (842°F), atmospheric pressures 92 times that of Earth, and clouds of sulfuric acid rain to boot, Venus is the most hostile environment in the solar system. It is little wonder why space agencies, going all the way back to the beginning of the Space Age, have had such a hard time exploring Venus' atmosphere.