NASA Selects Two Discovery Missions to Venus
NASA Selects 2 Missions to Study ‘Lost Habitable’ World of Venus
“NASA has selected two new missions to Venus, Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor.
Part of NASA’s Discovery Program, the missions aim to understand how Venus became an inferno-like world when it has so many other characteristics similar to ours – and may have been the first habitable world in the solar system, complete with an ocean and Earth-like climate.
These investigations are the final selections from four mission concepts NASA picked in February 2020 as part of the agency’s Discovery 2019 competition. Following a competitive, peer-review process, the two missions were chosen based on their potential scientific value and the feasibility of their development plans. The project teams will now work to finalize their requirements, designs, and development plans.”
It’s about time. Venus has been neglected for years by potential US mission opportunities, and now they’ve got two! I just wish they could get a lander mission down the line as well – I’ve heard they’ve made some real progress in making components that could survive the heat and pressure*.
* The pressure isn’t really the problem (it’s comparable to about a kilometer down in Earth’s oceans IIRC), the heat is. Actively removing heat would likely require a multi-kW power source and a complex, expensive lander. Better to just try and make your lander and instruments able to operate in the heat as long as possible.
Davinci + has a lander. I think it lasts only a few hours before it gets melts
According to the mission documents, only about 15
minutes on the ground (after 60 minutes of descent).
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/c…
Not quite. DAVINCI+ will land, but it’s not designed to operate on the surface. Or even to necessarily land undamaged. According to some presentations at conferences, they might continue to receive signals from it for about 20 minutes after reaching the surface, but they aren’t promising anything and that’s not a mission requirement. The mission is all about data collected during the descent.
I was wondering about that!
So it’s going to more akin to the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe of the late 1970’s then.
Not designed to land but if it does and survive for a short time it’s a bonus.
Yes. I bet the baseline science does not include anything they might gather once landed.
I wonder what is the likelihood of useful data even if it does survive for any length of time on the surface. One instrument measures temperature and pressure, but assuming that it is measuring that all the way to the surface I’m not sure there is much more to be detected after it lands, unless they think that the temperature or pressure might change slightly during those 17 minutes. Two of the instruments measure gases, even assuming dust is kicked up by the impact I’m not sure those instruments would be able to detect anything about the composition. Maybe some trace amounts of gas will get released from the soil by the impact and it could detect it.
There is a camera pointed at the ground during descent, but I would think the odds are that it won’t be pointing in a useful direction after landing.
Then again even if it detects no changes during those 17 minutes that in itself is a type of data.
They probably won’t get much, if any, useful data after landing. Huygens at Titan did. But that’s because (1) it had sensors designed to measure surface properties and (2) the probe was much warmer than the surface, and sublimated surface material which the mass spectrometer then measured.
This is fantastic news. And choosing two, complimentary missions at that is really inspired. Now do a Uranus orbiter! Clock’s ticking!
Hmm, that smells like a long duration Flagship mission. Not going to happen for a while with Mars Sample Return, Europa Clipper, Europa Lander and Dragonfly in play.
However if someone can come up with a New Frontier flyby mission to either Neptune or Uranus. Might be doable in the next decade with NASA.
Dragonfly is a New Frontiers mission, not a flagship. And Uranus and Neptune are officially not candidates for a New Frontiers mission. There is a short list of eligible targets/goals for New Frontiers missions, and Uranus and Neptune are not on the list. The Decadal Survey, currently in progress, will be revising that list, but they’ve said any changes will only be for NF-6, not the next NF-5, the next New Frontiers mission. The Decadal Survey will also give the priorities for the next flagship missions, and it’s quite possible that will include Uranus or Neptune. The last Survey’s list was, in order of priority, the first part of a Mars Sample Return (which is now Perseverance, Europa, and Uranus. Note that a Europa Lander was not on that list. A certain Congressman ordering NASA to look into a Europa Lander, despite not being a priority in the Survey and given what it would cost, was pretty controversial within the planetary science community.
Did posted next decade with NASA for Uranus and Neptune missions. So NF-6 mission, NF-7 mission or Flagship mission after Europa Lander are possibilities.
Missions to the Icy Giants does have the advantage of planning with heavy lift available soon. Maybe including a few Kilopower reactors for spacecraft power.
Let me try again. Europa Lander isn’t happening. The only reason it was ever studied was because one Congressman, with the right committee appointment, required NASA to do so. That was actually very unpopular among planetary scientists, because priorities for flagship missions are supposed to be based on a Decadal Survey by the National Academies. That Congressman is no longer in office, and there isn’t even funding for further studies of a Europa lander.
As far as ice giant missions are concerned, NF-6 and -7 are probably too late. The window for using Jupiter gravity assists closes in the early 2030s, and doesn’t reopen for a decade. A flagship, if recommended by the current (in progress) Decadal Survey, might be possible, but NASA would have to start work on it as soon as the Survey comes out. Or launch on SLS (which strikes me as unlikely) or Starship (which NASA wouldn’t consider until it’s actually flown and acquired enough of a successful track record.)