NASA is going to launch a mission to Venus. The upcoming journey is a daring mission that could shed new light on the hot planet.
The paper published in The Planetary Science Journal states that the probe will plunge through Venus' atmosphere and land on the planet's surface. DAVINCI is designed to be a flying chemistry lab, and it will use its built-in instruments to analyze Venus's atmosphere, temperatures, pressure and wind speed, while taking a few photos.
One of the upcoming missions planned for Venus is DAVINCI, which is short for Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation. It has been a long time since it happened. NASA's last mission to Venus was in 1989 and ended in 1994 NASA hasn't sent out a specialized Venus mission since then.
Understanding Venus can help scientists see our planet in a better light. Earth and Venus have the same size, mass, and densities. Venus has a thick, carbon dioxide rich atmosphere that traps heat the same way greenhouse gases do on Earth. There is an eerie volcanic landscape. It is possible that something happened during Venus's early history that caused it to become so inhospitable.
"Venus's atmosphere holds the chemical clues to understanding a whole host of aspects of that planet, including what its starting composition was and how its climate has evolved through time." The DAVINCI team is hoping to establish whether or not Venus had oceans of liquid water in the past.
DAVINCI will travel 38 million miles to Venus. The first flyby of the planet will take place six months after launch. During these flybys, the spacecraft will analyze Venus's clouds and measure the amount of ultraviolet radiation absorbed by the planet's day side, as well as the amount of heat being emitted from the Venusian night side.
After two years after launch, the Descent Sphere will descend through Venus's atmosphere and sample various gases as it goes to the surface. It will take an hour to make its way down and it will experience hotter temperatures and higher pressures further down.
As you approach the surface, the Venus atmosphere starts to get hotter and denser, but it's not a big deal. The sulfuric acid clouds tend to evaporate once you reach an altitude of around 27 miles.
Five instruments designed to measure and analyze the chemistry and environment of the Venusian atmosphere are housed in the Descent Sphere. When it reaches an altitude of 120 kilometers and 42 miles from the ground, the probe will begin its interactions with Venus. The probe will attempt to take hundreds of pictures when it dives below Venus's thick layer of clouds. These images are set to provide some of the best views of the planet.
The probe will breathe in some of the atmosphere. The DAVINCI probe will have a small inlet on the exterior of the pressure vessel through which samples of the atmosphere at different altitudes will be taken.
The probe should move no faster than 25 miles per hour. The Alpha Regio mountains, which are roughly the size of Texas, will be home to the probe if it makes it through the atmospheric entry. The probe will operate for 17 to 18 minutes once it sticks the landing, but it isn't really needed to operate on Venus since all the precious data will have already been collected during its atmospheric plunge
Scientists want to know if Venus was ever a good place for life.
A group of scientists claimed in September 2020 that Venus may have signs of life in its clouds. A biosignature gas is phosphine. The results were not well received. If the planet once had liquid water oceans, or if it had a thick, steamy atmosphere, it's possible that Venus was ever a good place to live.
The ratios of various gases in the atmosphere will be measured by the DAVINCI probe. Scientists will be able to understand which of their climate and interior evolution models are correct and whether or not Venus was ever a good place to raise a family.
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