Spaceflight Insider Theresa Cross June 3rd, 2021 An illustration of the VERITAS orbiter, which was one of two missions selected to study Venus at the end of the 2020s under NASA’s Discovery Program. Credit: NASA As part of NASA’s emerging area of research, two new missions have been selected to study Venus as part of NASA’s Discovery Program. The missions, the DAVINCI+ atmospheric probe and the VERITAS orbiter, seek to better understand how Venus changed from being possibly the first habitable planet in our solar system with oceans and near-Earth conditions to an “inferno like world.” These missions were among four potential chosen following a peer-based review process in February 2020 for their feasibility and contribution to scientific discovery.