By : Satyaki Paul
On June 10, 2021 the European Space Agency (ESA) broadcasted the EnVISION Mission to Venus is similar lines of NASA’s introduction of DAVINCI+ and VERITAS Mission. The EnVISION Mission will most probably send an orbiter to Venus by the year 2030.
The EnVISION Mission is led by ESA with aid and assistance from NASA. The Mission will seek to study its atmosphere and surface through monitoring trace gases in the atmosphere and analyse its surface composition. The NASA would eventually provide an image of the map surface which will act as a radar in this Mission.
This Mission will act as continuance to VENUS EXPRESS Missions of ESA. In this context, from 2015 Japan is already surveying the planet’s atmosphere through the help of their Akatsuki orbiter, controlled and operated by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency).
All these leads to a question that: Why study Venus? The ESA wants to look into the reason that why our planet Earth evolved differently from that of Venus. As because both the planets are of same size and composition (Venus is considered as Earth’s twin sister). However, due to the relative proximity to the Sun, Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system (hotter than Mercury). And, also this study would also aid in the research on Goldilocks Zone (region where life persists). In contrast, NASA through its DAVINCI+ and VERITAS Missions seeks to understand the terrestrial planet formation in the solar system and beyond. Thus, it can be concluded that both these missions from ESA and NASA are expected to communicate scientists more about the planet’s thick cloud cover and the volcanoes on its surface. The author works as a Ph.D. Research Scholar at the Department of Anthropology, University of Calcutta, and the co-author of the book Anthropology For All (2021).