Venera refers to a series of Soviet space probes launched between 1961 and 1984, designed to explore the planet Venus. These missions provided valuable data about Venus's atmosphere, surface conditions, and geological features, revealing that it has a thick, toxic atmosphere primarily composed of carbon dioxide and clouds of sulfuric acid. The Venera probes were the first to successfully land on another planet and transmit images and data back to Earth. They discovered that Venus has extreme temperatures, reaching up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit (475 degrees Celsius), and high atmospheric pressure, making it one of the most inhospitable places in the solar system.