A first private mission for Venus clouds for 2026
The MIT probe released by the ship of Rocket Lab Photon as the Venus planet approaches. © Rocket Lab
A small probe will discover hell, not on Earth, but on the planet Venus, known for its 460 ° C on the ground, its rains of sulfuric acid and its pressure almost 100 times greater than that which we know on our floor of the cows. Above all, this space object will be the first private banner to venture on this planet sometimes considered as the twin of the earth.
Installation of the Heet thermal shield by NASA engineers. © NASA / BRANDON TORRES NAVARRETE
Called Heet (for Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology), its thermal shield has just been installed by NASA engineers at Sillicon Valley. The probe has been developed by MIT (Massachusets Institute of Technology) and should take off on a Rocket Lab rocket and travel thanks to the interplanetary Photon vessel.
A possibility of life in the clouds of the Planet Venus?
The scientific phase of the Rocket Lab mission will aim for the layer of Venus clouds between 45 and 60 km above sea level, allowing around 330 s of scientific observations. © NASA/Ames Research Center
Venus clouds at around 50/60 km altitude have atmospheric temperature and pressure similar to those we know on earth. Conditions potentially conducive to a certain form of life, considered for a long time by planetologists. It has even happened that analyzes of the composition of these clouds report the presence of phosphine, a molecule that can be associated with biological activity. Admittedly, we are still far from being able to assert that something lives in the clouds of Venus, but the debate exists!
An instrument to track down the presence of organic molecules
The small MIT probe will therefore cross the sky of the beautiful Venus for the first time since the Vega Soviet missions in 1985. Will she discover organic chemistry, opening the window to the most formidable surprises: a bacterial extraterrestrial life a few million kilometers from us only?
“It is an ambitious mission with a clear hypothesis: there is no life without organic chemistry, Declares Richard French, director of development and strategy of space systems at Rocket Lab. Any detection of organic chemistry makes the presence of life more likely. We have a world class scientific team that has found a small instrument capable of indicating organic molecules by excitation of an ultraviolet laser. “
Next launch window (after missing that of January 2025): summer 2026.
