The two robots, Davinci+ and Veritas will be exploring Earth's nearest planetary neighbour around 2028–2030
For the first time since 1978, NASA will be sending two new robotic missions to explore and study Venus, the second planet from the sun and Earth's nearest planetary neighbour. The two chosen missions, Davinci+ and Veritas are part of the four competing proposals under NASA's Discovery Program, which handles minor planetary exploration missions.
The two missions were selected based on their potential scientific value and the feasibility of their development plans. The missions aim to understand how Venus became an inferno-like world when it has so many similar characteristics to Earth. Venus may have been the first habitable world in the solar system due to its Earth-like climate. NASA is awarding about US$500 million for each mission and each is expected to take place in the 2028–2030 time frame.
"We’re revving up our planetary science program with intense exploration of a world that NASA hasn’t visited in over 30 years," said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for science.
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"We’re ushering in a new decade of Venus to understand how an Earth-like planet can become a hothouse. Our goals are profound. It is not just understanding the evolution of planets and habitability in our own solar system but extending beyond these boundaries to exoplanets, an exciting and emerging area of research for NASA," he adds.
The Davinci+ mission which stands for "deep atmosphere Venus investigation of noble gases, chemistry and imaging" will measure the composition of Venus' atmosphere to understand how it formed and evolved as well as to determine whether the planet really ever had an ocean.
The other mission, Vertias which stands for "Venus emissivity, radio science, InSAR, topography and spectroscopy" will map Venus' surface to determine whether the planet's geologic history and understand why it developed so differently from Earth. Davinci+ is expected to commence around 2029 while Veritas is slated for a 2028 launch.
NASA's Discovery Program scientist says that "It is astounding how little we know about Venus, but the combined results of these missions will tell us about the planet from the clouds in its sky through the volcanoes on its surface all the way down to its very core. It will be as if we have rediscovered the planet.
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