ENVISION MISSION DESCRIPTION
EnVision was selected in 2021 as ESA’s 5th Medium-class mission to Venus, and the mission adoption is scheduled for February/March 2024. It is a mission in partnership with NASA, where NASA provides the Synthetic Aperture Radar payload.
Recent modelling studies strongly suggest that the evolution of the atmosphere and interior of Venus are coupled. The EnVision scientific objective is therefore to provide a holistic view of the planet from its inner core to its upper atmosphere, studying the planets history, activity and climate. Venus exploration also presents opportunities to address fundamental questions about the evolution of terrestrial planets and the appearance of life within our own solar system and beyond. Comparisons of the interior, surface and atmosphere evolution of Earth and Venus is essential to understanding what internal processes drove habitability of our own planet This is particularly true in the present and coming decades where we expect a large number of Earth or Venus-sized exoplanets to be discovered by existing and upcoming exoplanet missions.
The EnVision science objectives will be addressed by its five instruments and one experiment. The NASA VenSAR S-band radar will provide targeted polarimetric imagery as well as radiometry and altimetry observations. The high frequency Subsurface Radar Sounder (SRS), provided by Italy, will penetrate the upper 100 m to 1 km of the planets’ surface. Three spectrometers, VenSpec-U (provided by France), Ven-Spec-H (provided by Belgium) and VenSpec-M (provided by Germany), are operated in the UV and near and shortwave Infrared wavelength range. The VenSpec suite will map trace gases, including search for volcanic gas plumes above and below the clouds, and map sur-face emissivity and composition. A Radio Science Experiment (RSE) investigation is exploiting the spacecraft Telemetry Tracking and Command (TT&C) system to observe the planet’s gravity field and to sound the structure and composition of the middle atmosphere and the cloud layer in radio occultation.
More information about the EnVision mission can be found here:
More information about the EnVision mission can be found here:
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