NASA announced on June 2 that it will send two new missions to Venus after 30 years. Venus is called the "sister of Earth"because of its similarity in size to planet and its orbit is very close to ours. However, it is a planet that has not received much attention from scientists until now, due to its extremely inhospitable environment. Instead, scientists have focused on more famous and better studied worlds, such as Mars.
The new missions will shed light on how Venus became such a hot and suffocating planet , often likened to hell, with temperatures that melt even metals, even though it generally has many similarities to Earth and was once pleasant and perhaps the first habitable planet in our solar system, with an ocean and an “earthly” climate. But something happened and, according to the prevailing scenario among scientists, Venus fell victim to an out-of-control “greenhouse effect ,” something some warn could be Earth’s distant future if climate change is not brought under control .
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The two missions, named DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry and Imaging) and VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography and Spectroscopy), were announced by the head of the US Space Agency, Bill Nelson. They will be part of NASA's broader Discovery program and are scheduled to launch in the two years 2028-2030 . In addition, the cost of each will amount to 500 million dollars .
The first mission, DAVINCI+, will study the composition of Venus' atmosphere to understand its evolution and determine whether the planet once had an ocean. A spherical spacecraft will "dive" into the dense atmosphere of mainly sulfuric acid and carbon dioxide clouds and make precise measurements. It will also take the first high-resolution images of Venus' unique geological features. The science responsibility for this mission will be the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
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The second mission, VERITAS, will map the surface of Venus to learn about it and why it evolved so differently from Earth. A spacecraft will orbit the planet, equipped with new radar technology, and will create a three-dimensional map of the planet's topography, while also collecting information to determine whether plate tectonics and volcanic activity could exist. It will also record infrared emissions from the surface. The mission will be led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, with three European space agencies – Germany, France, and Italy – contributing to the mission by building various scientific instruments for the spacecraft.
Tom Wagner, NASA's Discovery program scientist, said: "It's amazing how little we know about Venus, but the combined results of the two missions will reveal a lot about the planet – from the clouds in the sky to the volcanoes on its surface and its very core. It will be like rediscovering the planet."
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Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science, said: “We are renewing our planetary science program with an intense exploration of a world that NASA has not visited in more than 30 years. Using cutting-edge technologies that NASA has developed and refined over many years of missions and technology programs, we are entering a new decade of Venus to understand how an Earth-like planet can become a greenhouse. Our goals are profound. Not only is understanding planetary evolution and habitability in our own solar system important, but also extending beyond those boundaries to exoplanets is an exciting and emerging area of research for NASA.”
