Pioneer Venus 2 entered orbit around Venus; it carried four separate atmospheric probes; they were plunged into the atmosphere, and two, although not designed to, survived impact with the ground and transmitted from the surface for 2 seconds and 67 minutes. The spacecraft carried one large atmospheric probe and three small ones, designed to collect data as they descended into Venus’s atmosphere. The probes did not carry photographic equipment and were not designed to survive the landing: the smaller probes did not have parachutes, and the larger probe’s parachute was expected to detach as it approached the ground. All four probes continued transmitting data until impact; however, one survived and continued transmitting data from the surface. The mother spacecraft and the small probes carried out several experiments including: a neutral mass spectrometer, a gas chromatograph, a solar flux radiometer, an infrared radiometer, a cloud particle size spectrometer, a nephelometer for searching for cloud particles, and temperature, pressure, and acceleration sensors.
