Land of Crimson Clouds
11 hrs. 59 min.
Language
Russian
Author
Arkady Strugatsky
Author
Boris Strugatsky
Narrator
Alexey Krutikov
Narrator
Alexey Krutikov
“The Crimson Clouds’ Country” is an adventure science-fiction novella, the first major work by Soviet writers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Written in 1952–1957. It tells about an expedition of Earth people from the end of the 20th century to the planet Venus. In this book, the heroes of Strugatsky’s “Zhilin cycle” appear for the first time—Bykov, Y urkovsky, Daug e, Krutikov.
On Venus, an extraordinarily rich deposit of ores is discovered—ores that are mined on Earth with great difficulty and enormous expense. This deposit is given the name “Uranium Golconda.” Attempts to land research probes on Venus produced nothing. After some time, the signal stopped coming from the stations. Attempts to land on the planet using rockets of the old type ended in the pilots’ deaths.
On Venus, an extraordinarily rich deposit of ores is discovered—ores that are mined on Earth with great difficulty and enormous expense. This deposit is given the name “Uranium Golconda.” Attempts to land research probes on Venus produced nothing. After some time, the signal stopped coming from the stations. Attempts to land on the planet using rockets of the old type ended in the pilots’ deaths.
Additional information:
During the writing of the novella, conditions on the surface of Venus were not even known approximately. The impossibility of observing the planet’s surface through an optical telescope—because the surface is constantly covered with clouds—left room for the boldest assumptions. Many scientists of that time, based on the general proximity of Venus’s and Earth’s main parameters, believed that conditions on Venus’s surface should also be quite close to Earth’s. Considering the shorter distance to the Sun, it was assumed that Venus would be noticeably hotter, but it was thought that there could well be liquid water there—and therefore a biosphere, possibly even with higher animals. As a result, Venus in the Strugatskys’ story looks close to what one might see in other science-fiction works from the same or earlier period: a Earthlike planet with a hot but suit able-for-humans-in-a-spacesuit climate. The atmosphere consists mostly of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, but it also contains a small amount of oxygen. There is vegetation and, presumably, an animal world. The planet’s rotation period around its axis is about 57 hours.
This description sharply contradicts reality. Later it was established that the temperature at the surface is +475 °C, pressure is about 93 atmospheres, and a Venus solar day is about 116 Earth days. The planet is unsuitable for life due to the high temperature. Venus’s atmosphere contains 96.5% carbon dioxide, 3.5% nitrogen, and a small amount of other gases, but it has no oxygen.
The novella mentions Venus’s natural moon—Venita. It is mentioned that the first person to land on it was Ekaterina Ermakova, the wife of the commander of the planet flight “Khius.” In the mid-20th century it was considered quite possible (and even likely) that Venus had a small moon, whose discovery was delayed only because of the imperfections of instruments. Boris Natanovich Strugatsky pointed out that the authors mentioned Venita in anticipation of its soon-to-be-discovered existence—which, however, never happened.
This description sharply contradicts reality. Later it was established that the temperature at the surface is +475 °C, pressure is about 93 atmospheres, and a Venus solar day is about 116 Earth days. The planet is unsuitable for life due to the high temperature. Venus’s atmosphere contains 96.5% carbon dioxide, 3.5% nitrogen, and a small amount of other gases, but it has no oxygen.
The novella mentions Venus’s natural moon—Venita. It is mentioned that the first person to land on it was Ekaterina Ermakova, the wife of the commander of the planet flight “Khius.” In the mid-20th century it was considered quite possible (and even likely) that Venus had a small moon, whose discovery was delayed only because of the imperfections of instruments. Boris Natanovich Strugatsky pointed out that the authors mentioned Venita in anticipation of its soon-to-be-discovered existence—which, however, never happened.
