NASA’s DAVINCI mission to Venus is scheduled for launch in 2029. A new document details this upcoming trip, a daring mission that could shed new light on the mysterious and potentially habitable past of the hot planet.
Upon reaching the second planet from the Sun, the spacecraft will sink through the atmosphere of Venus, ingesting its gases for about an hour before landing on the planet’s surface, according to the article published in The Planetary Science Journal. DAVINCI is designed to act as a flying chemistry lab and will use its built-in instruments to analyze the atmosphere, temperatures, pressure and wind speed of Venus, while taking some photos of its journey through planetary hell.
Abbreviation for Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble Gas, Chemistry, and Imaging, DAVINCI is one of the next three missions planned for Venus, for the delight of Venus nerds like me. And honestly, it’s been a long time coming. NASA’s last mission to Venus, Magellan, arrived on the planet in 1989 and ended scientific operations in 1994. Since then, NASA has not sent any specialized missions to Venus, although the planet is, like, super hot, literally and figuratively.
Why is NASA sending a mission to Venus?
Understanding Venus helps scientists have a better view of our own planet. Venus and Earth may have started similarly; the two planets share the same size, mass, and density. But today, Venus has temperatures as high as 880 degrees Fahrenheit (471 degrees Celsius), with a thick, carbon-rich atmosphere that traps heat in the same way that greenhouse gases do on Earth. It also has a disturbing volcanic landscape. Something may have happened during the early history of Venus that developed such brutal and inhospitable conditions, and ended up so drastically different from Earth.
“Venus’ atmosphere contains chemical clues for understanding a number of aspects of this planet, including its original composition and how its climate has evolved over time,” said Professor Paul Byrne. associate professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of Washington at St. Louis, who did not participate in the newspaper, wrote in an email. “The DAVINCI team, in particular, hopes to establish whether Venus actually had oceans of liquid water in its past and, if so, when and why those oceans were lost.”
How will DAVINCI measure the atmosphere of Venus?
To do so, DAVINCI will travel about 38 million miles (61 million kilometers) to Venus. The spacecraft will first make two overflights of the planet, the first will take place 6.5 months after launch. During these overflights, the spacecraft will analyze the clouds of Venus and measure the amount of ultraviolet radiation absorbed by the day side of the planet, as well as the amount of heat emitted from the night side of Venus (Venus is not blocked by the tide , but has a very slow speed). rotation speed).
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About two years after launch, the DAVINCI spacecraft, known as the descent sphere, will descend through the atmosphere of Venus and show the different gases as it goes to the surface. The 3-foot-long (1-meter-long) probe will need an hour to go down, experiencing warmer temperatures and higher pressures as it goes down.
“It turns out that Venus’ atmosphere is relatively pleasant around 55 km [35 miles]but it quickly starts to get hotter and much denser as you get closer to the surface, “Byrne said.” Not to mention the clouds of sulfuric acid, though luckily they tend to dissipate. – once it has fallen to an altitude of about 47 km. [29 miles]. ”
The Descent Sphere is equipped with five instruments designed to measure and analyze the chemistry and environment of the Venusian atmosphere; These tools are expected to draw a better and deeper picture of the layered atmosphere. The spacecraft will begin its interactions with the upper atmosphere of Venus when it reaches an altitude of 75 miles (120 kilometers) and will expel its heat shield when it is 42 miles (67 kilometers) from Earth. As soon as it sinks beneath the thick layer of Venus clouds, about 100,000 feet (30,500 meters) above the surface, the probe will attempt to capture hundreds of images. Venus clouds surround the planet, covering its surface from view, so these images are set to offer unprecedented views.
Apart from images of the planet, the Descent Sphere spacecraft will also breathe part of its atmosphere. “The DAVINCI spacecraft will have a small entrance to the outside of the pressure vessel (basically a large metal sphere) through which samples of the atmosphere will be introduced at different altitudes into the spacecraft (or, indeed, will be introduced as external pressure) .the probe begins to increase dramatically with internal pressure), “Byrne said.
When landing, the probe should not move at more than 40 km / h (25 miles per hour). If it survives the atmospheric entry, the spacecraft will land, hopefully, in the roughly Texas-sized Alpha Regio Mountains, according to the researchers behind the new document. Under ideal conditions, the probe will run for 17 to 18 minutes once it is attached to the landing, but it is not really necessary to operate on Venus, as all the precious data has already been collected during its atmospheric dive.
An illustration of the falling sphere of DAVINCI falling through the atmosphere of Venus Screenshot: NASA
Is Venus habitable?
Although Venus today is a less than ideal place for life, scientists want to investigate whether or not the planet was habitable.
In September 2020, a group of scientists claimed that Venus could have signs of life in its clouds based on a detection of what could be phosphine in the Venusian atmosphere. Phosphine is considered a biosign gas on Earth. However, the results were received largely with skepticism. But whether or not Venus was habitable during its past depends on whether the planet hosted oceans of liquid water, or whether it simply had a thick, vaporous atmosphere.
“The DAVINCI spacecraft will seek to answer this question by measuring the proportions of various gases in the atmosphere,” Byrne said. “These measures, in turn, will help scientists understand which of their models of climate and inner evolution are correct, and therefore what is the probable planetary history of Venus, including whether it was actually habitable.”