The planet Venus is obscured by a permanent cloud layer which prevents clear observation of its lower atmosphere or surface by optical techniques. Radio astronomy, however, appears to offer a means by which the lower atmosphere may be probed. Measurements made at the Naval Research Laboratory of the microwave radiation from Venus near inferior conjunction, when interpreted in terms of thermal radiation, give the results tabulated below. A convenient summary of these measurements is given by Mayer [1959]; the measurement at 0.86 cm is that of Gibson and McEwan [1959].