Two future missions to Venus

Shashank Raj Gupta
Two future missions to Venus

Question: Space agency of which of the following country has recently disclosed about two robotic missions, DAVINCI+ and VERITAS, to Venus?
a) USA
b) China
c) UK
d) Japan
Answer: (a)
Related Facts:-

  • NASA recently has announced two new future missions to Venus, Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor.
  • The missions aim to understand how Venus became an inferno-like world when it has so many other characteristics similar to ours.
  • Venus may have been the first habitable world in the solar system, complete with an ocean and Earth-like climate.
  • NASA is awarding approximately $500 million per mission for development. Each is expected to launch in the 2028-2030 time frame.
  • These selected future missions for Venus are named as DAVINCI+ and VERITAS
  • DAVINCI+
  • DAVINCI, known in full as Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging.
  • DAVINCI+ probe to Venus will measure the composition of Venus’ atmosphere to understand how it formed and evolved.
  • It will determine whether the planet ever had an ocean, this mission consists of a descent sphere that will plunge through the planet’s thick atmosphere.
  • It will make precise measurements of noble gases and other elements to understand why Venus’ atmosphere is a runaway hothouse compared the Earth’s.
  • In addition, DAVINCI+ will return the first high resolution pictures of the unique geological features on Venus known as Tesserae.
  • These features may be comparable to Earth’s continents, suggesting that Venus has plate tectonics.
  • VERITAS
  • VERITAS is Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy
  • VERITAS will map Venus’ surface to determine the planet’s geologic history to understand why it developed so differently than Earth.
  • Orbiting Venus with synthetic aperture radar, VERITAS will chart surface elevations over nearly the entire planet.
  • It will create 3D reconstructions of topography and confirm whether processes such as plate tectonics and volcanism are still active on Venus.
  • VERITAS also will map infrared emissions from Venus’ surface to map its rock type, which is largely unknown.
  • It will also determine whether active volcanoes are releasing water vapor into the atmosphere.

Links:-
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-selects-2-missions-to-study-lost-habitable-world-of-venus