NASA selects two missions to the planet Venus

NASA selects two missions to the planet Venus

Part of: GS Prelims and GS -III – Sci and tech; Space 

In news

• NASA has selected two missions to the planet Venus. 

Details about the missions

• The missions are called DAVINCI+ and VERITAS 
• These will be launched between 2028 and 2030.
• DAVINCI+ is ‘Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging’
  • It is the first US-led mission to the planet’s atmosphere since 1978.
  • It will try to understand Venus’ composition to see how the planet formed and evolved.
  • It also consists of a descent sphere that will pass through the planet’s thick atmosphere and make observations and take measurements of noble gases and other elements.
  • It will also try to return the first high resolution photographs of a geological feature, tesserae, that is unique to Venus. The presence of tesseraes may suggest that Venus has tectonic plates like Earth.
• The second mission called VERITAS is ‘Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy’
  • It will map the planet’s surface to determine its geologic history and understand the reasons why it developed so differently from Earth.