Hell’s twin of Earth, here we come. The next two NASA missions, named DAVINCI + and VERITAS, are destined for the planet Venus, as announced by Bill Nelson, NASA administrator, who was sworn in on May 3, 2021. “These two sister missions have the objective is to understand how Venus became a hellish world capable of melting lead on the surface “, he clarifies. ” We hope that these missions will improve our understanding of how Earth evolved and why it is currently habitable, when others in our solar system are not.”
Venus: a big bet of planetary science
NASA’s bet comes in the form of a double dose of funding for the development of the Discovery Program missions, amounting to $ 1 billion. Both DAVINCI + and VERITAS were selected from four finalists in a competitive process, lagging behind missions to study Jupiter’s moon Io or Neptune’s moon Triton.
We have not been on Venus for more than 30 years and that our infernal twin is the closest star to our planet, located about 40 million kilometers away. The fact that it is such an inhospitable place has not made things any easier. The first space probes to visit it had to deal with clouds of sulfuric acid and crushing pressures on the surface, which are 92 times stronger than those on Earth at sea level.
But we have a new opportunity to unravel some of its mysteries. The two missions have equally ambitious goals:
DAVINCI + ( Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry and Imaging ) will consist of a sphere of descent of approximately one meter in diameter that will immerse itself in the planet’s atmosphere and there, it will analyze the composition of the air using an ultraviolet spectrometer, to investigate whether the planet once had an ocean. In addition, it will take high definition images of the surface, in particular its geological features called tiles that can be similar to continents. We could discover that Venus has plate tectonics …
VERITAS ( Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy) will map the surface of Venus to determine the geological history of the planet and understand why it developed so differently from Earth. In orbit around Venus with synthetic aperture radar, this mission will map the surface elevations of almost the entire planet to create 3D reconstructions of the topography and confirm whether processes such as plate tectonics and volcanism are still active on Venus. . VERITAS will also map infrared emissions from the surface of Venus to determine its rock type, which is largely unknown , and determine whether active volcanoes are releasing water vapor into the atmosphere. It will also house the Deep Space Atomic Clock-2, a successor to a similar technology that launched into Earth orbit in June 2019.
“Our goals are deep. It is not just about understanding the evolution of planets and habitability in our own solar system, but about extending beyond these limits to exoplanets, an exciting and emerging research area for NASA, ”says Associate Administrator Thomas Zurbuchen science department.
Each of the missions is expected to launch in the 2028-2030 period.
In the spotlight
Last year, scientists reported seeing signs in Venus’ atmosphere that hinted at the presence of a compound called phosphine, which could be associated with biological processes. Since then, questions have been raised about how strong the evidence for life really is on Venus and these two future missions could provide data to support claims of biological activity. They could also tip the balance towards non-biological processes like volcanism that can also produce phosphine.
