Nasa plans two missions to Venus 43 years from last one after signs of potential life – World News
Nasa has announced two missions to Venus – 43 years after the last one.
Earth’s closest neighbour has been ignored for decades in favour of cooler planets that are more hospitable.
The missions, set to cost £700million in total, have been planned after signs of potential life were identified on Venus, the solar system’s hottest planet at over 470C.
Gases have been discovered that could be a sign of micro-organisms inhabiting the planet’s atmosphere.
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(Image: via REUTERS)
Venus may give clues about what global warming could do to Earth.
James Garvin, chief scientist for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in the US state of Maryland, said Venus could give greater understanding about climate change as well as “the evolution of habitability and what happens when a planet loses a long period of surface oceans”.
One mission, known as DaVinci Plus, will involve a small craft attempting to analyse the thick, cloudy atmosphere.
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(Image: Bill Ingalls/NASA/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
Scientists will use the findings to try to determine if the inferno planet ever had an ocean and was possibly habitable. It will be the first US-led mission there since 1978.
The other robotic mission, called Veritas, will seek a geologic history by mapping the rocky planet’s surface.
Experts believe it resembles Earth’s continents.
Venus, also called the Morning Star, is one of the brightest natural objects in our night sky.
Its distance from Earth can be as much as 162 million miles and as little as 24 million miles.
