The DAVINCI+ is one of the two missions destined to lead mankind to Venus and unravel clandestine extraterrestrial conditions for inhabitation. With a budget of 500 million dollars, NASA has vowed to launch the probe by 2028.
With respect to the Magellan Mission launched over 30 years ago, the data obtained from it suggested ratios of isotopic hydrogen on the planet, which hinted at the presence of water. Once this project kicks off, we will have the opportunity to confirm the pre-existence of oceans and water bodies on the Midnight Sun. The possibility of tectonic activity is impeccably high in Venus, considering its hot interior. Tectonism plays a monumental role in making a planet habitable. Thus, the DAVINCI+ will be a travel back in time to understand Earth’s tectonic journey better. The DAVINCI+ will be a 3-year-long mission set to study the planet’s chemical composition with immense precision and lay the groundwork for future scientific appraisal.
The probe will dispatch an aero-shell with a hemispherical pressure vessel of 1m diameter, lined with a phase change material to maintain temperature. After completing the 6-month-long journey to the orbit of Venus, the probe will spend a month revolving around the planet twice. Spin View Photography will be adopted for capturing images of the planet as the vessel descends into the planet’s atmosphere with a velocity of 20-25 miles per hour.
This endeavor is going to be enigmatic, considering the intense and unexplored characteristics of our sister planet. Cytherean atmospheric pressure is almost 90 times that of Earth’s. Over 9 Soviet probes have been able to spend a mere maximum of 127 minutes in the orbit of Venus, which is reasonable considering that the surface of Venus is known to reach over 465 degrees Celsius.
Despite the what-ifs, it is undeniable that we might be closer than ever before in demystifying Venus. The mission will help us restructure obsolete data and ultimately uncover information that will help us understand our home planet better.
