PARIS: The space probe that spent eight years carrying out an analysis of Venus is out of fuel and will float to a fiery demise in the planet’s toxic atmosphere, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced on Wednesday.

Venus Express “was running on fumes”, Adam Williams, ESA’s acting manager of the craft, said. “We are pleased to have been pushing the boundaries right down to the last drop.”

Before its end, which is expected to occur in the next several weeks, Express provided data that helped scientists draw important conclusions about the planet, which is similar to Earth’s size and mass.

Data collected by Express show Venus is still geologically active and may have once had oceans similar to those on Earth.

Contrary to its alluring name, Venus is now the planet from hell, with an atmosphere so hot, toxic and heavy that any visitor would risk being simultaneously melted, suffocated and crushed.

The planet’s searing surface temperature of 477 Celsius is the hottest in the Solar System.

Launched in Nov 2005, Venus Express was pulled into the planet’s orbit on April 11, 2006, to begin study of the planet. Its initial mission was extended several times and last spring its masters at ESA sent the probe on one last adventure. Scientists ordered the craft on a controlled drop toward Venus, bringing it as close as it had ever been to the planet in an effort to explore previously unknown layers of the atmosphere.

Published in Dawn December 18th , 2014