NASA to Launch 2 Missions to Venus by 2030

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has recently reported that they intend to understand how Venus evolutioned into a crazily hot, poisonous and high-pressure planet. It is an important area of focus as Venus shares similar characteristics with Planet Earth and could have been a habitable place a long time ago.

Two missions were chosen out of four because of their higher scientific relevance. One of them is DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) and the other VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy).

DAVINCI+ will take the first high-resolution pictures of Venus that will enable investigators to get familiar with the geographical aspects of this planet and provide further information about the “tesserae”, which may assimilate to the Earth’s tectonic plates. The probe will also measure the gases present in the thick atmosphere.

VERITAS will orbit Venus and map it, which will aid in the comprehension of its geological history and provide a 3D reconstruction of its topography. All of this will help to identify if tectonic plates and volcanoes are still active. It will also inform scientists about Venus’ rock type and if volcanoes are releasing water vapour.

Finally, these missions are expected to be carried out between 2028 and 2030, and the funding is valued at $500M per mission.

Bibliography

Andrews, R. (2021, June 2) NASA Just Broke the ‘Venus Curse’: Here’s What It Took. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-just-broke-the-venus-curse-heres-what-it-took/

Howell, E. (2021, June 2) NASA will launch 2 new missions to Venus by 2030 to return to Earth's hellish twin [Photograph] Space.com. https://www.space.com/nasa-unveils-2-venus-missions-veritas-davinci

N.A. (2021, June 2) NASA Selects 2 Missions to Study ‘Lost Habitable’ World of Venus. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-2-missions-to-study-lost-habitable-world-of-venus/