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Jun 2, 2021 · NASA is awarding approximately $500 million per mission for development. Each is expected to launch in the 2028-2030 timeframe. The selected missions are: DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging)
Sep 14, 2020 · About 40 robotic spacecraft launched by governments on Earth have tried to visit Venus in one way or another. Here are highlights from past journeys to Venus, as well as the prospects for a...
Jun 8, 2021 · While NASA is overdue for a visit to Venus, other spacecrafts from Europe and Japan have orbited the planet since Magellan. The United States has primarily focused on Mars-related missions in...
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- A long time coming
Two spacecraft aim to solve deep mysteries about the nearby planet, including why it resembles a hellish, toxic version of Earth.
NASA had a surprise in store for planetary scientists today: During a “State of NASA” briefing, the agency announced that roiling, toxic Venus will be the target of the next two missions in its highly competitive Discovery program.
“These two sister missions, both aimed to understand how Venus became an inferno-like world capable of melting lead at the surface—they will offer the entire science community the chance to investigate a planet we haven’t been to in more than 30 years,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during the briefing. “We hope these missions will help further our understanding of how Earth evolved and why it’s currently habitable, when other [rocky planets] in our solar system are not.”
One spacecraft, called DAVINCI+, will study the planet’s toxic atmosphere—a thick shroud of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid clouds. The other, VERITAS, will make detailed maps of the planet’s surface and try to reconstruct its geologic history.
The pair beat out two other finalists, which would have sent probes to Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io or Neptune’s moon Triton—destinations that have been high on planetary science wish lists for decades.
The announcement comes amid surging interest in a U.S.-led mission to Venus, which some planetary scientists have considered “the forgotten planet.” Venus is remarkably similar to Earth in size and mass. And although it is a hellish, inhospitable world today, it may once have been a temperate, ocean-covered planet like our own. Understanding how Venus became such an extremely unfriendly world is crucial for understanding how common truly Earth-like planets might be.
NASA’s Discovery program supports smaller, less expensive missions than those in its New Frontiers and flagship categories. Launching roughly every 36 months, Discovery missions are typically capped at $450 million, excluding launch vehicle and mission operations costs, while New Frontiers expeditions are capped at $850 million. Flagships—such as the Perseverance and Curiosity Mars rovers—can cost billions.
Currently, NASA is flying two Discovery missions. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched in 2009, has spent more than a decade mapping the moon’s surface. The InSight Lander, launched in 2018, is studying the Martian interior.
Now, those missions will at last have their chance to fly, exposing new truths about the shrouded world next door.
The last U.S. mission to Venus, Magellan, ended in 1994 as the spacecraft executed a programmed plunge through the planet’s atmosphere. Since then, European and Japanese probes have visited Earth’s twisted sister, and scientists have continued to aim Earth-based telescopes at the intriguing planet.
3:13
Venus 101
Named after the ancient Roman goddess of beauty, Venus is known for its exceptional brightness. Find out about the volcanoes that dot Venus's surface, the storms that rage in its atmosphere, and the surprising feature that makes Venus outshine every planet or star in the night sky.
Despite the scrutiny, Venus’s mysteries have only deepened. Among them is growing evidence for ongoing volcanism on the planet’s surface, despite the fact that Venus lacks the type of tectonic activity that fuels Earth’s most extremely volcanic regions. There’s also the controversial detection of phosphine gas in the planet’s atmosphere, which could be a sign of life.
Jun 29, 2021 · One casualty was the planned Venus-mapping VOIR (Venus Orbiting Imaging Radar) spacecraft. When the news came in 1982, Dyar, now deputy principal investigator of VERITAS, was a graduate student...
Jan 21, 2022 · NASA’s Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to make a successful flyby of Venus, returning data that began to reveal the surprisingly harsh nature of the planet, with its slow retrograde rotation, staggeringly hot surface temperatures, and thick carbon dioxide atmosphere.
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Jun 4, 2021 · In the latest announcement from Nasa’s solar system exploration program, two missions have been given the go-ahead – and they’re both bound for Venus. The two ambitious missions will launch...
