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Venus In Situ Atmospheric and Geochemical Explorer (VISAGE) is a proposed
Elana Glowatz, ''IB Times''. 20 December 2017.
If selected for development, VISAGE would have launched in December 2024 with a targeted flyby of Venus in May 2025, and Venus arrival in December 2025. A carrier spacecraft would deploy the lander five days before it flew by Venus. The atmosphere of Venus at the surface has an average temperature of 450 °C and is highly acidic and corrosive, which severely limits the time a lander can function. The VISAGE lander would function autonomously while descending (1 hour) and would operate on the surface for additional 3.5 hours, and it would transmit its acquired data to the nearby carrier module for relay to Earth.
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...
lander mission that would perform atmospheric and surface science investigations.
The mission was proposed in 2017 to NASA's New Frontiers program
The New Frontiers program is a series of space exploration missions being conducted by NASA with the purpose of furthering the understanding of the Solar System. The program selects medium-class missions which can provide high science returns.
...
to compete for funding and development,NASA's New Frontier Mission Will Search For Alien Life Or Reveal The Solar System's HistoryElana Glowatz, ''IB Times''. 20 December 2017.
Overview
If selected for development, VISAGE would have launched in December 2024 with a targeted flyby of Venus in May 2025, and Venus arrival in December 2025. A carrier spacecraft would deploy the lander five days before it flew by Venus. The atmosphere of Venus at the surface has an average temperature of 450 °C and is highly acidic and corrosive, which severely limits the time a lander can function. The VISAGE lander would function autonomously while descending (1 hour) and would operate on the surface for additional 3.5 hours, and it would transmit its acquired data to the nearby carrier module for relay to Earth.
Science investigations
During its parachute descent, the VISAGE lander would analyse atmosphericnoble gas
The noble gases (historically also the inert gases; sometimes referred to as aerogens) make up a class of chemical elements with similar properties; under standard conditions, they are all odorless, colorless, monatomic gases with very low ch ...
es and light stable isotopes inventory, as well as reactive and trace gases, and measure the atmospheric structure profile. It would also image the surface starting from an altitude of and acquire panoramic images of the landing site.
The VISAGE lander would drill on the shallow subsurface and samples would be brought on board to measure the mineralogy and elemental composition.
Goals
The proposed mission goals are: * to measurenoble gases
The noble gases (historically also the inert gases; sometimes referred to as aerogens) make up a class of chemical elements with similar properties; under standard conditions, they are all odorless, colorless, monatomic gases with very low ch ...
to test models of the origin and evolution of Venus, and measure sulfur compounds and trace gas profiles to constrain atmospheric cycles, surface-atmosphere interactions, and climate models.
* to understand whether Venus was ever like Earth: VISAGE would measure surface and subsurface composition, determine surface rock type, mineralogy, and texture to understand geochemical processes, weathering, and aeolian processes
Aeolian processes, also spelled eolian, pertain to wind activity in the study of geology and weather and specifically to the wind's ability to shape the surface of the Earth (or other planets). Winds may erode, transport, and deposit mate ...
.
* to understand clues about exoplanets
An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...
.
Payload
The proposed lander payload comprises five instruments: the Atmospheric Structure Investigation including Doppler Wind measurements, a Neutral Mass Spectrometer, an Imaging System, an X-ray Fluorescence experiment, and a Visible Near-Infrared Spectrometer. The total surface science data return is expected to be ~1.4 GBits.See also
* Venus In situ Composition Investigations (VICI), a competing atmospheric probe and lander * Venus Origins Explorer (VOX), a competing atmospheric probe and orbiterReferences
{{Planetary Missions Program Office, New Frontiers=y Missions to Venus Extraterrestrial atmosphere entry New Frontiers program proposals Proposed NASA space probes