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| NASA sends two missions to Venus |
NASA has selected two new robotic missions to explore the hot world of Venus.
The DAVINCI+ and VERITAS missions are one of four competing proposals in the final cycle of the NASA Discovery Program.
The plan calls for smaller planetary exploration missions with a budget of about $500 million each.
These two sister missions aim to understand how Venus became an infernal world capable of melting lead into the surface.
These two missions provide the entire scientific community with an opportunity to explore planets we haven't visited in over 30 years.
DAVINCI+ is scheduled to begin around 2029. It will be the first US-led mission to enter the atmosphere of Venus since 1978.
The spacecraft flew close to Venus twice, took close-up pictures of the surface of Venus, and then placed an automated detector in its thick atmosphere to measure its gas and other elements.
Last year, during NASA's review of these four missions, interest in Venus surged when an independent international research team released a discovery that harmful phosphine gas may be floating in Venus' clouds.
As we all know, phosphine is mainly produced by living organisms.
But other researchers disputed the team's findings, leaving the phosphine theory open. The DAVINCI + mission should finally solve this problem.
NASA has conquered Venus:
While these two investigations may help confirm the phosphine studies, they were selected based on their scientific merit, proposed timing, and other factors unrelated to the phosphine findings.
The second VERITAS mission is scheduled to begin around 2028, shortly before DAVINCI+.
Beginning in 1990, the spacecraft orbited Venus and mapped its surface, just like NASA's Magellan probe four years later in 1990. But by focusing more clearly, scientists can give scientists a better understanding of the planet's geological history.
NASA said it is using synthetic aperture radar and surface elevation tracking to create a 3D reconstruction of the terrain and confirm whether processes such as volcanoes are still active on Venus.
Another wavelength-sensitive camera will also be installed via VERITAS. Thus, it can detect signs of water vapor in the atmosphere of Venus.
These two missions show that NASA is headed toward Venus. It is a hot planet, far from other scientifically known planets (such as Mars).
Both missions aim to rule out the possibility that the planet will ever be habitable.
A comprehensive study of the planet's atmosphere could give scientists clues about how it has changed over time and into the present day, with a surface temperature of around 482 degrees Celsius.
These missions could also help scientists observe exoplanets and distant planets in other solar systems.