NASA picks Venus as hot spot for two new robotic missions

An image of Venus made with data from the Magellan spacecraft and Pioneer Venus Orbiter. The space agency’s new administrator, Bill Nelson, announced two new robotic missions to the solar system’s hottest planet, during his first major address to employees Wednesday. “These two sister missions both aim to understand how Venus became an inferno-like world capable of melting lead at the surface,” Nelson said. “It is astounding how little we know about Venus,” but the new missions will give fresh views of the planet’s atmosphere, made up mostly of carbon dioxide, down to the core, NASA scientist Tom Wagner said in a statement. “It will be as if we have rediscovered the planet.” NASA’s top science official, Thomas Zurbuchen, calls it “a new decade of Venus.” Each mission — launching sometime around 2028 to 2030 — will receive $500 million for development under NASA’s Discovery program.