NASA selects 4 possible missions to study the solar system

NASA has just selected four missions as part of its Discovery program to explore the solar system. Two of them relate to the planet Venus.

Developed in the early 1990s, the program Discovery NASA regularly offers the development of “inexpensive” missions (less than $ 450 million), aimed at highly targeted exploration of the solar system. Among the best known are the MESSENGER missions, which studied the planet Mercury, or the mission Dawn, which focused on Vesta and then Ceres. Without forgetting Kepler, responsible for the discovery of more than 2,600 exoplanets. Just that.

While other missions are currently underway – for example Insight, on Mars – NASA is already thinking about the future. The American agency has just announced the development of four new projects aimed at expanding our understanding of our solar system.

Nothing official yet. The research teams behind these four projects will have nine months (and three million dollars) to develop a mission concept. After evaluating these presentations, NASA should select two which can be developed over the next few years.

Two out of four for Venus

Among the proposed projects is the mission DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gas, Chemistry, and Imaging Plus). The idea would be to dive into the very inhospitable atmosphere of Venus to analyze its composition. With this data, researchers will be better equipped to understand how the planet was formed and how it evolved. It will also be a question of confirming whether Venus has already had an ocean or not.

The second mission presented is Io Volcano Observer (IVO). It will aim, as its name suggests, to explore Io, the volcanic moon of Jupiter. More precisely, it will be a question of understanding how the tidal forces shape the planetary bodies. Io, “heated” by the constant crushing of Jupiter’s gravity, presents itself as the ideal subject for such a study.

The mission TRIDENT would aim to map, thanks to a single overview, the surface of Triton, the largest moon of Neptune. In particular, it will be a question of knowing whether or not Triton has an ocean beneath its surface, as we suspect. Crucial data to determine whether or not life could develop at such a distance from the Sun.

And finally the mission VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy). Its objective, if selected, will be map the surface of Venus to determine its geological history. In particular, it will be a question of knowing whether plate tectonics and volcanism are still active on the surface.

Ultimately, the researchers would like to understand why Venus, which once looked so much like Earth, had a destiny so different from our planet.

” These selected missions have the potential to transform our understanding of some of the most active and complex worlds in the solar system Said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the NASA Science Missions Directorate.

We note in passing that the two missions dedicated to Venus have already been selected from the finalists as part of the same Discovery program in 2017. At the time, NASA preferred to focus on the study of the asteroids Lucy and Psyche.

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