VERITAS and DAVINCI+: NASA announces two new official missions to explore the mysteries of Venus

The secrets of Venus have been intriguing scientists, especially after Discover what is believed to be evidence of phosphine in your clouds. although was interrogatedThis discovery opens the door to the theory of the existence of microorganisms on the planet. Now, NASA has announced that it has chosen two new official missions to Venus under the Discovery Program.

Such as VERITAS and DAVINCI + . missions They were previously selected in 2020 by the US Agency to advance to the investigative stage. After a new selection process, taking into account the concepts presented by the researchers, all official missions will receive a budget of $500 million for their development and are expected to be launched into space between 2028 and 2030.

NASA presents that Mission Veritas (or “Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, Spectroscopy”) is designed to map the surface of Venus to determine its geological past, understand why it evolved so differently from Earth, and learn about active geological processes on the planet.

me and Mission DAVINCI + (or Venus Deep Atmosphere Noble Gases, Chemistry, and Imaging Study) focuses on the atmosphere of Venus and aims to check whether the planet contains oceans.

“We are accelerating our planetary science program through extensive exploration of a planet that NASA has not visited in more than 30 years,” stresses Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s director of science. detail it NASA missions will use advanced technology to understand how Venus has evolved over time.

“It’s surprising how little we know about Venus, but the combined results of these missions will tell us more about the planet: from clouds in its sky to volcanoes at the surface, through its core,” says Tom Wagner, NASA’s Exploration Program Scientist. .

Portuguese researchers are also looking at Venus to understand how everything on this slowly rotating planet rotates with devastating winds very quickly in the clouds.

Venus
An infrared image acquired by the IR2 camera of the Akatsuki spacecraft, of the Japanese space agency JAXA, processed, reversed, and colorized. It is possible to observe examples of atmospheric gravitational waves (see the same image below, where the waves are highlighted). Credits: PLANET-C project team / José Silva et al. , 2021

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Venus
An infrared image acquired by the IR2 camera of the Akatsuki spacecraft, of the Japanese space agency JAXA, processed, reversed, and colorized. An infrared image acquired by the IR2 camera of the Akatsuki spacecraft, of the Japanese space agency JAXA, processed, reversed, and colorized. It is possible to observe examples of atmospheric gravitational waves (see the same image below, where the waves are highlighted). Credits: PLANET-C project team / José Silva et al. , 2021

“data-title=”Venus – VERITAS and DAVINCI+: NASA announces two new official missions to explore the mysteries of Venus – SAPO Tek”>
Venus
A false-color synthetic infrared image of Venus taken with the IR2 camera of the Japan Space Agency’s Akatsuki spacecraft JAXA. On the night side, infrared light comes from the planet itself and passes through the clouds. Dark clouds of infrared light appear dark in the original image. In this image, which is inverted relative to the original, it is represented by lighter tones. PLANET-C . project team

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Venus
Infrared images captured by the IR2 camera of the Akatsuki spacecraft, from the Japanese space agency JAXA, have been processed, processed, and colorized. In them were proven examples of atmospheric gravitational waves. Credits: PLANET-C project team / José Silva et al. , 2021

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Venus
Composition of an infrared image of Venus with the Milky Way in the background. Credits: Venus – ISAS/JAXA (modified), Background – John Colosimo (colosimophotography.com) / ESO

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Venus
Wave patterns in Venus’s atmosphere have been interpreted as gravitational waves, but in this case in the upper layer of clouds, they were observed in ultraviolet light by the VMC instrument, of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Venus Express spacecraft. Source: ESA / Francisco Brasil et al. , 2019

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