NASA Plans 2 Venus Missions to Probe Divergent Evolution, With VERITAS Launching No Earlier Than 2031
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · Aug 14
NASA Plans 2 Venus Missions to Probe Divergent Evolution, With VERITAS Launching No Earlier Than 2031
1 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Aug 14
Summary
DAVINCI and VERITAS are NASA’s next Venus missions, aimed at explaining how a planet 95% of Earth’s diameter became a 467C, high-pressure world with no oceans.
DAVINCI will send a probe through Venus’s atmosphere and image Alpha Regio, measuring noble gases, isotope ratios and trace chemistry to constrain how much water Venus once had and how its atmosphere formed.
VERITAS, planned for launch no earlier than 2031, will make high-resolution global maps and repeat radar observations to test for active deformation and better separate rock type, roughness, lava flows and possible surface coatings.
One key target is the long-debated highland radar signal, where cooler mountaintops may host lead- or bismuth-bearing deposits rather than confirmed “metallic frost” — a hypothesis still unverified by direct sampling.
The missions could narrow competing histories for Venus, including whether it once sustained surface water for billions of years or lost it early under a long-lived steam atmosphere.