NASA announces two new missions to Venus

NH Bureau Saturday, 05 June 2021 08:14:46 AM

This picture of Venus was captured by the Mariner 10 spacecraft during its approach to the planet in early 1974 (Image: Unsplash)

New Delhi : NASA has announced two new missions to get better understanding about the planet Venus, which is similar to Earth in many ways, except it is inhabitable now. The space agency believes that Venus may once have been the first habitable planet in the Solar System, with an Earth-like ocean and climate.

"It’s amazing how little we know about Venus, but the results of these missions add up to telling the planet’s story from clouds in its sky, volcanoes on its surface to its bottom and core," said NASA scientist Tom Wagner for upcoming missions.

"It will be as if we have rediscovered the planet," he added.

The space agency NASA announced two mission - DAVINCI+ and VERITAS – with different objectives to know Venus in a better way.

DAVINCI+ will be specified to learn about the composition of the atmosphere and insight into the changes that have occurred. It will be taking high-resolution images of geological formations – comparable to Earth’s continents – on the planet.

According to Reuters, the second mission, called VERITAS, will attempt to map the planet’s surface and find out if tectonic plates are moving and that volcanic activity is on Venus.

The budgets for both initiatives are around $500 million (more than $10 billion), said Bill Nelson, President of NASA, who replaced his predecessor Jim Bridenstine at the helm of the space agency this year.