So Long Mars, Venus Is NASA’s Hottest New Thing

Why does it feel like Venus is suddenly everywhere in the news? Maybe it’s because of a controversial study suggesting life could exist in the clouds or because the planet offers a glimpse at what happens when the climate gets out of control. Perhaps it’s actually something else. In the third and final episode about Venus, Julian explains why the planet is back in the spotlight again.

Watch the other episodes in this series:

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/BCUqDel7slY

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/IfjJLWuHYwg

Learn more about NASA's Venus rover here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAhVi7IkL08

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To understand why Venus is seemingly everywhere today, let's back up a couple of decades first. From about the 60s to the 80s, Venus was actually a central focus of space exploration. It was the planet next door that we could reach in shorter and cheaper intervals than sending spacecraft to our other planetary neighbor, Mars. But by the 90s, like a broken VCR, things took a hard pause.

In the Summer of 2021, as part of NASA’s Discovery program, two missions to Venus were selected. Since the 90s, there have been more than 30 Venus proposals to NASA, but none were chosen.

One of the two recent missions that were selected is called DAVINCI+. The mission will include an orbiter and a descent probe. The orbiter has four cameras onboard that will image Venus in multiple wavelengths from above, while the probe will have a slightly more treacherous journey.

The probe will measure Venus’ atmosphere in greater detail by using a couple of spectrometers to determine the type of compounds that make up the atmosphere. Scientists are hoping these findings will shed new light on how and when its atmosphere got so bad.

Venus wasn’t always the hellish place we know it as today. It’s theorized that Venus may have even had an ocean almost 700 million years ago until a runaway greenhouse effect suffocated the planet. So knowing more about what went wrong with Venus can help planetary scientists compare Venus to Earth and potential Earth-like exoplanets, which for the latter, seems like an alluring opportunity as the search for alien life solidifies its place in the mainstream.

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Read More:
Why Venus is back in the exploration limelight
https://www.space.com/venus-exploration-campaign-nasa-missions
“On Wednesday (June 2), NASA announced that it will launch two missions to Earth's hellishly hot sister planet by 2030 — an orbiter called VERITAS and an atmospheric probe known as DAVINCI+. The duo will break a long Venus drought for the space agency, which hasn't launched a dedicated mission to the second rock from the sun since the Magellan radar-mapping orbiter in 1989.”

NASA Selects 2 Missions to Study ‘Lost Habitable’ World of Venus
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-2-missions-to-study-lost-habitable-world-of-venus
“DAVINCI+ will measure the composition of Venus’ atmosphere to understand how it formed and evolved, as well as determine whether the planet ever had an ocean… VERITAS will map Venus’ surface to determine the planet’s geologic history and understand why it developed so differently than Earth.”

NASA to Explore Divergent Fate of Earth’s Mysterious Twin with Goddard’s DAVINCI+
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/nasa-to-explore-divergent-fate-of-earth-s-mysterious-twin-with-goddard-s-davinci
“The science impact of DAVINCI+ will reach even beyond the solar system to Venus-like planets orbiting other stars (exoplanets), which are expected to be common and will represent important targets for NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope. But these planets may be difficult to interpret, especially if they are enveloped in thick Venus-like clouds.”

VERITAS, NASA’s Venus mapper
https://www.planetary.org/space-missions/veritas
“These are some of the key questions that NASA’s VERITAS mission aims to answer. VERITAS — short for Venus Emissivity, Radio science, InSAR, Topography, And Spectroscopy — will provide us with the highest resolution global maps of Venus' surface to identify specific geologic and volcanic processes that actively shape it.”
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