Europe to Go It Alone on Venus Mission After NASA Pulls Radar Instrument
ESA is moving ahead with its Envision Venus orbiter after NASA officials determined they were unlikely to supply a promised U.S.-built radar instrument. Envision is designed to map Venus’s surface beneath sulfuric acid clouds and search for active volcanism.
The European orbiter, named Envision, will map the Venusian surface at 10 times higher resolution than the last radar mission sent to Venus by NASA in the 1990s, Ars Technica reported on Sept. 10. Venus is enshrouded in a blanket of thick clouds of sulfuric acid, rendering its mysterious surface unseen by optical cameras in orbit.
Radar is the most effective way to penetrate the clouds of Venus and reveal the terrain below, according to the report. Scientists will use Envision to look for signs of active volcanism.
NASA and ESA signed a memorandum of understanding in 2024 outlining their partnership on Envision. NASA agreed to supply a U.S.-made synthetic aperture radar instrument, Envision’s primary means of mapping the surface of Venus, along with providing tracking and communications support through NASA’s Deep Space Network. In exchange, ESA would include U.S. researchers on Envision’s science team.
Europe would build the Envision spacecraft and the rest of its science instruments and also provide the launch on an Ariane 6 rocket, according to the report. With NASA unlikely to provide the radar instrument, ESA is proceeding with the mission’s development.