We set our
sights on
VenusVENUS IS ALREADY the hottest
destination in the solar system — liter-
ally, with surface temperatures up to
890 degrees Fahrenheit (470 degrees
Celsius). But now it’s also figuratively the
hottest destination: In 2021, NASA and
the European Space Agency (ESA) select-
ed three new missions aimed at Earth’s
sister planet.
On June 2, NASA announced it would
send two spacecraft to Venus by 2030:
VERITAS, short for Venus Emissivity,
Radio Science, InSAR, Topography &
Spectroscopy; and DAVINCI, short for
Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of
Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging.
Eight days later, ESA announced its
EnVision mission will launch for Venus
in the early 2030s.
The DAVINCI orbiter will combine
f lybys of the planet with an orbiter that
will drop the first probe sent into thevenusian atmosphere by the U.S. since- This spherical probe will sample
the chemistry of the planet’s thick, for-
bidding atmosphere hundreds of times as
it passes through each layer during an
hour-long descent. “Our approach is to
target that big atmosphere as a wondrous
chemical laboratory of environments and
histories that we can read in the record of
the chemistry,” says DAVINCI principal
investigator James Garvin of NASA’s
Goddard Space Flight Center. The probe
will also snap images as it falls, providing
the highest-resolution views yet of its
mountainous landing site, called Alpha
Regio, from beneath Venus’ thick cloud
cover.
Meanwhile, the VERITAS orbiter will
use radar to pierce Venus’ obscuring
clouds and map the entire surface in 3D
— the first comprehensive look at that
surface since NASA’s Magellan mission
ended in 1994. Near-infrared sensors will
allow researchers to determine important
planetary properties, such as surface
composition, gravitational field strength,
and interior structure. VERITAS will
also look for signs of recent volcanic
activity and other geologic processes. Its
goal is to uncover clues about Venus’ geo-
logical past and present, revealing how
the planet became the forbidding land-
scape it is today.
Finally, the EnVision orbiter is an
ESA-led collaboration with NASA to
globally study Venus in exquisite detail.
Its suite of instruments includes spec-
trometers to measure atmospheric com-
position, a sounder to probe the planet’s
interior, radar to map the surface in high66
Venus is like Earth in size, mass, and
composition — but cloaked in a thick atmosphere of
carbon dioxide, with an utterly inhospitable surface.
Three new missions to our sister planet aim to reveal
its mysteries and finally tell its story. NASA/JPL-CALTECHThe COVID-19 pandemic continued to shape science in 2021, as measures
quickly put in place in 2020 to maintain safe social interactions remained.
Major academic meetings stayed virtual, as did most NASA proceedings,
including mission proposal presentations. Many astronomy clubs continued to
offer online events and talks, often allowing them to reach larger audiences
and bring in faraway speakers with no need for travel. Citizen science plat-
forms such as Zooniverse, SciStarter, and the Unistellar Network continued to
see high levels of participation as teachers, students, and other enthusiasts
searched for or shared ways to engage with astronomy remotely.
Scientific research marched onward: Observatories that closed in 2020 had
largely reopened, generally with reduced staff and queue observing. But while
the pandemic clearly spurred innovation and new ways to connect, it also
took its toll on some of the best-laid plans. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory,
slated to see engineering first light in 2021, pushed this milestone back a year.
It is now expecting its camera to see engineering first light in October 202 2
and start science operations no earlier than a year later.
Several space missions remained delayed, including the Indian Space
Research Organisation’s Chandrayaan-3 Moon mission, now expected to launch
in 2022. The continuing need for liquid oxygen to support COVID-19 patients dis-
rupted supply chains and caused NASA to push back the Sept. 16 launch of its
Landsat 9 satellite by a week. According to a briefing, the launch required liquid
nitrogen — but necessary deliveries of liquid oxygen to hospitals meant no
trucks were available to carry liquid nitrogen to the launch site. And a NASA
report stated the pandemic had caused several mission launch dates to slip
between one and 10 months, estimating that delays and other challenges related
to the pandemic could ultimately cost the agency some $3 billion USD. — A.K.THE CORONAVIRUS CONTINUES
TO IMPACT SCIENCE