NASA has selected two new missions to study Venus

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency ( NASA ) of the U.S. has selected two new Missions to study Venus.

The mission which is the part of NASA’s discovery program aims to understand how Venus became an inferno like planet when most of the characters are similar to our planet.

From four mission concepts Nasa had selected two missions in February 2020 after a through peer-review process and also based on their feasibility and potential scientific value.

These missions are expected to launch around 2028 – 2030, the selected missions are given below:

DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging)

DAVINCI mission’s primary objective will be to measure the composition of Venus’s atmosphere to understand how it was formed and evolved as well and also to know whether the planet had an Ocean.

VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy)

VERITAS will be able to map the surface of Venus to determine the geologic history of the planet which would give an understanding on why it developed so differently than Earth. This mission will create a 3D reconstructions of topography to confirm volcanism and plate tectonics are still active on Venus.

NASA’s associate administrator for science, Thomas Zurbuchen, said:

“We’re revving up our planetary science program with intense exploration of a world that NASA hasn’t visited in over 30 years,”

“Using cutting-edge technologies that NASA has developed and refined over many years of missions and technology programs, we’re ushering in a new decade of Venus to understand how an Earth-like planet can become a hothouse.

He also added that NASA’s 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.”