Venus is the space ship killer

One of NASA's upcoming two harsh NASA explorations will be a suicide mission.

If we went for a walk late at night and saw a beautiful big bright star in the sky, it was most likely Venus. The planet is named after the Roman goddess of love.

NASA also gives much love and attention to Venus when choosing the planet as a target in their two exploration missions in the future.

Picture 1 of Venus is the space ship killer
One of Venus images taken from American and Russian exploration missions.(Photo: Wired).

The two proposed tasks have different content and will lead to separate results.The first plan is called VERITAS (short for Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy) . During this mission, the satellite will fly around Venus orbit and map the planet's surface.

The smooth implementation of VERITAS could help NASA better understand Venus's complex and tectonic plates. Thereby, NASA has the basis to determine the geological activity of Venus still exists or not.

The second plan is DAVINCI + (short for Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging Plus) . DAVINCI + will send a spherical spacecraft through Venus' atmosphere.

Picture 2 of Venus is the space ship killer
A photo of wind movement in Venus' atmosphere.The image also shows the thickness of the haze surrounding the planet.(Photo: Wired).

During the infiltration process, the probe will collect atmospheric data to send back to the scientists. Studies of the atmosphere composition are likely to help science complete the picture of how the planet Venus was formed.

However, Venus is famous for being a dangerous planet . It is covered in a thick atmosphere mostly composed of CO ₂ . Hidden beneath the haze is a volcanic activity that turned Venus into the "hottest" planet of the solar system.

Picture 3 of Venus is the space ship killer
If on Earth, channels like these often contain water, on Venus they are lava flows.(Photo: Wired).

Acid rain will inevitably occur and destroy spacecraft if they get too deep into Venus' atmosphere. But NASA really wanted to explore this planet with the suicide mission of DAVINCI + and still decided to send a spacecraft through the clouds. Although that action can seriously damage NASA spacecraft, even be destroyed by the harsh conditions of Venus.

The VERITAS plan is expected to be implemented by 2021. Meanwhile, the DAVINCI + task has not yet been specified.