The Venus Express spacecraft, which was launched in November 2005 and ceased activity in December 2014, has brought about a new wealth of data on Venus’s atmosphere, surface, and space environment. Following the completion of this landmark mission, an overview of the current state of scientific understanding of Venus has been assembled into a single collection. The ten papers in this book, written by an international team of specialists, are the products of this effort. They review our knowledge of Venus’s interior structure, surface composition, and atmosphere in terms of thermal structure, dynamics, composition, chemistry, clouds, aeronomy, and interaction with the solar wind. Additionally, they identify the questions and measurements that remain open for study in ongoing and future research and exploration efforts. The resulting volume is primarily intended for students and researchers of planetary science. This book is a follow-up to the pioneering book Venus, published in 1983, and its successor volume Venus II, published in 1997, stood at their respective times as the most authoritative single-volume works available on the planet. Originally published in Space Science Reviews in the Topical Collection "Venus III"

本書は金星という美しくも過酷な惑星に捧げられた、知の叙事詩です。単なるデータの集積を超え、人類が長年挑んできた未知への渇望が一編の文学のように重厚に綴られています。専門家の冷徹な分析の裏側に潜む、真理への圧倒的な情熱と惑星の鼓動を読み解く感性こそが、本作が放つ本質的な魅力といえます。 映像版では最新ＣＧが金星の荒々しい大気を圧倒的なスケールで描き出しますが、テキストはより内省的な数式の美学という深淵を提示します。視覚的な没入感と、文字から立ち上がる論理的な思考の旅。この二つのメディアが共鳴することで、読者は宇宙の深淵に触れる比類なき知的な法悦を味わうことができるのです。