NASA announces two missions to Venus

NASA announces two missions to Venus

WASHINGTON: NASA announced two new missions to Venus on Wednesday that will launch at the end of the decade and are aimed at learning how Earth's nearest planetary neighbor became a hellscape while our own thrived. "These two sister missions both aim to understand how Venus became an inferno-like world, capable of melting lead at the surface,“ said Bill Nelson, the agency's newly-confirmed administrator.

"They will offer the entire science community the chance to investigate a planet we haven't been to in more than 30 years.“ The missions have been awarded about $500 million under NASA's Discovery Program, and each is expected to launch in the 2028-2030 timeframe. Both missions were picked from a competitive, peer-reviewed process based on their scientific value and feasibility of their plans. DAVINCI+, which stands for Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging, will gather more detail on the composition of Venus' primarily carbon dioxide atmosphere, to learn how it formed and evolved.

The mission also seeks to determine whether the planet once had an ocean. A descent sphere will plunge through the dense atmosphere which is laced with sulfuric acid clouds. It will precisely measure the levels of noble gases and other elements