The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced the launch of the EnVision space mission to get closer to the atmosphere of Venus and take never-before-seen pictures of the planet. The mission is a partnership with NASA, which is also planning two other missions, VERITAS and DAVINCI+, to better understand the planet’s surface.

The ESA released a statement detailing the status of the project and the challenges the spacecraft will have to overcome in order to complete the mission. The biggest problem will be cross the atmosphere of Venus, consisting of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid vapors. To do this, it is planned to develop a spacecraft that can fly above the atmosphere and stay on course without melting.

EnVision is under development’aerodynamic braking – a spaceflight maneuver that launches a spacecraft into flight through the atmosphere at the lowest point in its orbit, reducing its elliptical orbit. The resulting maneuver drag reduces the ship’s speed as well as its altitude. Thus, ESA hopes to be able to lower the spacecraft to about 150 km above the atmosphere.

The maneuver was first used in 2017 by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) spacecraft during a process that lowered its orbit around Mars for 11 months. EnVision’s research leader, Thomas Voirin, explains that the maneuver is tricky and the engineering team is testing a wide range of coatings to ensure the mission is a success. “Aerodynamic braking around Venus will be much more difficult than for TGO. First, the gravity of this planet is about 10 times greater than that of Mars,” Voirin explained. The spacecraft will experience higher gravity than TGO as it passes through the atmosphere. “.

Another factor to consider is proximity to the Sun. “We will also be much closer to the Sun, experiencing about twice the solar intensity as Earth, with thick white clouds in the atmosphere reflecting a lot of sunlight back into space, which needs to be taken into account.”Thomas Voirin explained.

VERITAS and DAVINCI+ missions

In addition to helping with the EnVision mission development process, NASA is also preparing two Venus observation missions. The missions, called DAVINCI+ and VERITAS, are aimed at understanding how Venus has characteristics that are really so similar to our planet, and whether there are active volcanoes on it.

While DAVINCI will measure the composition of the planet’s atmosphere, VERITAS wants to map the surface and determine the planet’s geological history. Both missions are planned for the period from 2028 to 2030.

Source: ESA, SciTechDaily.

…..