The May 30th launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket marked the start of a new era of space exploration in 2020. The partnership between NASA and SpaceX resulted in the successful and historic launching of the Dragon crew, NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, aboard a commercially-built spacecraft bound for the International Space Station [1]. Only weeks later, SpaceX set another landmark, successfully completing its first mission for the newly-appointed US Space Force by launching an updated GPS satellite into orbit [2]. Back in 2019, NASA released the very first picture of a black hole, once thought to be impossible to photograph. So, what else does the future of space exploration hold?
Scientists are once again turning to our sister planet Venus for answers about the origin of our planet. Back in 2016, NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) used a technique called climate modeling, a set of parameters that have been used to depict climate change on Earth, along with 3D simulations, and determined that Venus may have once been habitable. Several hypothetical Venus climates were simulated using ROCKE-3D (Resolving Orbital and Climate Keys of Earth and Extraterrestrial Environments with Dynamics), revealing the possibility that Venus once had moderate temperatures suitable for life [3]. The findings have prompted intrigue about Venus’ transformation from an Earth-like planet to a flaming ball of rock. Subsequently, as part of NASA’s Discovery Program, which aims to learn about how our Solar System formed by studying planetary bodies, the organization recently selected four possible missions to pursue — two of which focus on Venus [4,5].
One of the missions is called DAVINCI+, or Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging Plus. Named after Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci in honor of his groundbreaking technical inventions, the operation’s primary objective is to analyze Venus’ atmosphere in an effort to understand the planet’s evolution [6]. In early 2020, the Goddard Team selected to develop the mission concept proposed to send a spherical probe to the planet, which will be the first U.S. spacecraft to travel to Venus since the Pioneer Venus Project in 1978 [7]. The probe will contain instruments to measure the noble gases in the planet’s atmosphere, such as krypton, argon, and neon. Noble gases are “inert” or chemically unreactive, which renders them immobile. As a result, scientists will be able to trace the gases to the “long history of chemical and geological processes” that contributed to Venus’ development [6].
The second mission is called VERITAS, short for Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy. Its primary goal is to study the planet’s geological history through high-resolution topography and imaging. Spearheaded by Suzanne Smrekar of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the VERITAS team aims to utilize synthetic aperture radar, which charts surface elevations, along with infrared emissions to accurately map the planet [4]. Studying features such as plate tectonics and volcanism could help scientists uncover “fingerprints” possibly pointing to Venus’ past as a habitable planet — and how it diverged from Earth [8].
While the two planets may have diverged at some point in their billion year history, there is a possibility that their fates may converge once again. Analyzing the gases that make up Venus’s atmosphere, which consists mainly of carbon dioxide, may aid in our understanding of how a build-up of carbon dioxide and other byproducts of burning fossil fuels will affect Earth’s atmosphere. Subsequently, identifying Venus’s road to becoming a hellish planet can prevent us from following the same path. These recent discoveries have left us with more questions that not only seek to uncover Venus’s past, but to predict Earth’s future.
References:
- Potter, S. (2020, May 30). NASA Astronauts Launch from America in Test of SpaceX Crew Dragon. Retrieved July 02, 2020, from https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-astronauts-launch-from-america-in-historic-test-flight-of-spacex-crew-dragon
- Grush, L. (2020, June 30). SpaceX successfully launches an updated GPS satellite for the US Space Force. Retrieved July 02, 2020, from https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/30/21307211/spacex-gps-iii-sv03-space-force-falcon-9-launch-watch-live
- Way, M. J., Genio, A. D., Kiang, N. Y., Sohl, L. E., Grinspoon, D. H., Aleinov, I., . . . Clune, T. (2016). Was Venus the first habitable world of our solar system? Geophysical Research Letters, 43(16), 8376-8383. doi:10.1002/2016gl069790
- Brown, K. (2020, February 13). NASA Selects 4 Possible Missions to Study Secrets of the Solar System. Retrieved July 02, 2020, from https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-four-possible-missions-to-study-the-secrets-of-the-solar-system
- Harbaugh, J. (2019, June 18). Discovery Program. Retrieved July 02, 2020, from https://www.nasa.gov/planetarymissions/discovery.html
- Shekhtman, S. (2020, February 25). NASA Goddard Team Selected to Design Concept for Venus Probe. Retrieved July 02, 2020, from https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/nasa-goddard-team-selected-to-design-concept-for-probe-of-mysterious-venus-atmosphere/
- Dunbar, B. (n.d.). Pioneer-Venus. Retrieved July 02, 2020, from https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/pioneer-venus/
- Science - Planetary Geosciences: Projects. (n.d.). Retrieved July 02, 2020, from https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/projects/VERITAS/