Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s senior science official, refers to it as “a new decade of Venus.” Every mission launch between 2028 and 2030, will receive $500 million in development funding through NASA’s Discovery programme. “It’s amazing how little we know about Venus, NASA scientist Tom Wagner said in a statement, “but the new missions will provide unprecedented perspectives of the planet’s atmosphere, which is largely carbon dioxide, down to the core.” “It’ll be like though we’ve discovered the planet all over again.”
A time of hope and fear
What changed Venus, which is nearly identical in size and composition to Earth, into such an alien and catastrophic state? Why did the stories of these two similar neighbouring planets differ so drastically? Perhaps the moment has now arrived for answers. NASA is poised to decide which interplanetary mission pair it will launch into orbit next. The space agency has four options: one is to visit a Neptune moon, another is to rendezvous with a Jovian moon, and the final two are to return to Venus. Smrekar is the lead investigator for one of the Venusian prospects, and the entire community is on pins and needles.
Two new robotic missions
The Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy mission, or VERITAS, is an orbiter with a cutting-edge radar system, that will produce a stunning 3-D topographic map of the planet, complete with individual volcanoes and their lava-licked landscapes, as well as fault systems scarring the land like scars.
The orbiter component of DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble Gases, Chemistry, and Imaging Plus) would scan the atmosphere and surface in ultraviolet and infrared. DAVINCI+’s ability to detect so-called noble gases in Venus’s atmosphere, such as xenon, argon, and helium, can aid in determining when the planet lost its water.
The momentum of the community
The proposals VERITAS and DAVINCI+ are far from hurriedly drafted. More than a decade ago, sketches of both mission designs began to appear. Each proposal is based on over a half-century of scientific knowledge. It’s been a long and arduous trip for both of them. Despite the fact that both VERITAS and DAVINCI+ have been chosen, there are some additional reasons to be optimistic. Other space organisations, such as Russia’s, Europe’s, and India’s, have been seriously considering a return to Venus, and may take up the torch if NASA fails to do so.
