It’s an exciting time to be a Venus observer. Our sister planet, which has only been the goal of one mission since the 1980s, is now the focus of not one, not two, but three missions by NASA and ESA. Taken together, they promise to see as closely as possible the morning star and some of the processes that could have made a world so similar to our own.
The first two missions were officially selected by NASA as part of the agency’s Discovery program on June 2nd. Both missions go back a long way, but with official program support, they are now much better supported by the space exploration community and are much more likely to get off the ground.
YouTube video describing the DAVINCI + mission announced last week.
Photo credit: NASA
DAVINCI + and VERITAS, the two NASA missions, were both covered in detail in previous UT articles. DAVINCI +, which emerged from the previously proposed Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble Gass Chemistry and Imaging probe, focuses on understanding the atmosphere and surface of Venus. It will be the first time since 1985 that Venus’s atmosphere will be sampled directly when it launches a spherical probe into the atmosphere. It will also provide high resolution images of some features of the planet’s surface.
With this second objective, it overlaps with VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography and Spectroscopy), whose main mission is to map the surface of the planet. A combination of synthetic aperture radar and infrared imaging is used to attempt to draw an accurate picture of both the contours of the surface and its texture.
Trailer for the two new NASA Venus missions.
Photo credit: NASA
Both missions will also serve as a platform for technology demonstrators. VERITAS will carry the Deep Space Atomic Clock-2, which is designed to keep the precise time to help maneuver spacecraft, while DAVINCI + will carry the Compact Ultraviolet to Visible Imaging Spectrometer (CUVIS), a new type of image sensor for special use in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum.
But they’re not the only missions using NASA technology – on June 10, ESA announced its own mission to Venus. The mission known as EnVision will be part of ESA’s Cosmic Vision exploration plan. A key component of EnVision is another synthetic aperture radar known as VenSAR. Like the instrument hosted on VERITAS, this instrument will help EnVision study three different layers of the Venus system – the atmosphere, the surface and even the subsurface. Using radio signals, the probe will attempt to map the internal structure of the planet, which will allow researchers to better map deposits of certain materials or unstable structures.
Video with some details on how EnVIsion works.
Credit European Space Agency / Paris Observatory / VR2Planets
Now that these missions are all officially incorporated into formal development programs, their coordination can continue until launch. While still years away from launch, let alone arriving on our sister planet, these missions will offer Venus enthusiasts a whole host of new things to look forward to.
Artistic conception of the EnVision probe recently announced by ESA.
Photo credit: European Space Agency / Paris Observatory / VR2Planets
Learn more:
NASA – Then there were 3: NASA cooperates on ESAESA’s new Venus mission
ESA – ESA chooses EnVision, revolutionary Venus mission
NASA – NASA selects 2 missions to investigate the “lost habitable” world of Venus
Mission statement:
Image showing the similarity between Earth and Venus, with a concept of the EnVision spacecraft in the foreground.
Photo credit: European Space Agency / Paris Observatory / VR2Planets
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