NASA’s Plan to Return to Venus

 For many decades the mysteries of space and our solar system have intrigued scientists. With the many space exploration missions that have undergone in the past, the primary goal is to understand how life originates and how planets come to be habitable. In the past couple of years mars has been at the spotlight of scientific curiosity, with rovers like opportunity and landers like insight being deployed throughout the years. However, in recent years NASA has begun discussing the possibility of studying our closest planetary neighbor, Venus. 

From a total of four mission finalists, two have been selected by NASA in which Venus, the second planet from the sun, will be heavily studied. The two missions, DAVINCI+ and VERITAS, will set out to understand how the planet Venus could have been habitable at some point in its lifetime and what caused it to become the volcanic wasteland that it is today. The launches are expected to happen by 2028 to 2030 and NASA will be awarding $500 million to each mission to aid with design and development, with a NASA associate claiming, “We’re revving up our planetary science program with intense exploration of a world that NASA hasn’t visited in over 30 years” (1). The last time NASA visited Venus was in 1990, during which the Magellan probe collected information on the layout of planet’s surface along with crucial information on its gravitational field. Venus holds many similarities with earth, although having temperatures up to 880 degrees Fahrenheit and an atmosphere consisting of carbon dioxide. It is hypothesized by scientists that although the planet is now incredibly toxic, Venus was potentially able to host life before greenhouse gasses likely vaporized its oceans. 

 

Each year it seems that as a species we learn more and more about the world around us and the others in our solar system. With the recent missions sent out to mars we have been trying to educate ourselves as much as we can about what gives a planet its ability to host life, and now with eventual launces of DAVINCI+ and VERITAS maybe we will be able to get closer to answering that question. 

 

Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nasa-announces-two-venus-space-missions-upcoming-decade-180977922/

 

Posted by David Miropolsky (8)