After Mars, Nasa places bet on Venus: Two $1 billion missions to study this ‘lost habitable’ world
After Mars, Nasa places bet on Venus: Two $1 billion missions to study this ‘lost habitable’ world
The two missions dubbed as DAVINCI+ and VERITAS and are expected to launch to Earth s nearest neighbour between 2028-2030.
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UPDATED: June 3, 2021 11:49 IST
Venus hides a wealth of information that could help us better understand Earth and exoplanets. (Photo: Nasa)
After scouring the surface of Mars for decades in search of microbial life, Nasa is now placing its bet on another world as it approves two new missions to Venus. As part of the Discovery Program, the two missions will see over $1 billion in funding to explore the inferno world of our nearest neighbour, which was once predicted to have Earth-like conditions, suitable for life.
Jun 3, 2021
LOS ANGELES: NASA announced plans on Wednesday to launch a pair of missions to Venus between 2028 and 2030 – its first in decades – to study the atmosphere and geologic features of Earth’s so-called sister planet and better understand why the two emerged so differently.
The U.S. space agency said it was awarding about $500 million each to develop the two missions, dubbed DAVINCI+ (short for Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble Gases, Chemistry and Imaging) and VERITAS (an acronym for Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography and Spectroscopy).
DAVINCI+ will measure the composition of the dense, hothouse atmosphere of Venus to further understand how it evolved, while VERITAS will map the planet’s surface from orbit to help determine its geologic history, NASA said.