Atmosphere of Venus

While air is a gaseous delight unique to Earth, a team of astrophysicists have made a satisfying discovery: the direct observation of atomic oxygen on Venus’ dayside, confirming that the element crucial for our existence exists on both sides of the hellish planet.NASA Delays Return to Earth's Evil Twin, VenusAbout 96% of the atmosphere on the second planet from the Sun is made up of carbon dioxide, a smidge of other gasses including nitrogen, and practically no oxygen. But there is some oxygen, and some of the element was…

The team preparing the prototype aerial robotic balloon for a test flight above the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.Photo: NASANASA wants to send a giant silver balloon to the hellish world of Venus, where the floatingrobot would explore the toxic Venusian atmosphere. Functional tests of a smaller prototype recently took place in a Nevada desert in preparation for this upcoming mission to the solar system’s inferno. The prototype of the aerial robotic balloon, or aerobot, just completed two successful test flights above the…

An illustration of the small spacecraft that Rocket Lab is currently developing to cruise through Venus’ clouds.Illustration: Rocket LabSpaceX might have its sights set on Mars, but Rocket Lab is seeking to become the first private company to reach Venus and explore its clouds for signs of potential habitability. Rocket Lab revealed new details about its self-funded mission to the Venusian clouds in a recent paper published in the journal Aerospace. The California-basedcompany is building a small probe that’s designed to…

NASA’s DAVINCI mission to Venus is scheduled for launch in 2029. A new paper details this upcoming journey, a daring mission that could shed new light on the scorching hot planet’s mysterious, and potentially habitable, past.Upon its arrival at the second planet from the Sun, the probe will plunge through Venus’ atmosphere, ingesting its gases for approximately one hour before landing on the planet’s surface, according to the paper published in The Planetary Science Journal. DAVINCI is designed to act as a flying…