NSSDCA ID: DAVINCI-P
The DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere of Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) mission involves a flyby spacecraft and an in-situ atmospheric probe to study Venus. The science objectives of the mission are to understand the origin and evolution of the Venus atmosphere, how and why is Venus different from Earth and Mars, if there was an early ocean on Venus, the rate of volcanic activity, and the nature, origin, and history of the tesserae.
The mission comprises a carrier relay imaging spacecraft and a descent probe. The descent probe is a spherical module initially housed in a conical heat shield, and then is released to drop to the surface. It is equipped with a quadrupole mass spectrometer (the Venus Mass Spectrometer, VMS), a tunable laser spectrometer (Venus Tunable Laser Spectrometer, VLTS), a meteorological instrument (Venus Atmospheric Structure Investigation, VASI), a descent imaging system (Venus Descent Imager, VenDI), and an oxygen-sensing student collaboration experiment (Venus Oxygen Fugacity Experiment, VfOx). The spacecraft has a multiband (IR and UV) camera system (Venus Imaging System for Observational Reconnaissance, VISOR), and a hyperspectral (UV-visible) technology demonstration instrument (Compact Ultraviolet to Visible Imaging Spectrometer, CUVIS).
The mission is scheduled to launch in the 2031/2032 timeframe into a type-1 trajectory Earth-Venus transfer orbit. DAVINCI will release the atmospheric probe about 2 days before reaching Venus. The probe will enter the atmosphere and descend by parachute over a period of about 1 hour, transmitting atmospheric data.
Launch Date:
Launch Vehicle:
Launch Site: , United States
Questions and comments about this spacecraft can be directed to: Dr. David R. Williams
Name | Role | Original Affiliation | |
---|---|---|---|
Dr. James B. Garvin | Mission Principal Investigator | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center | garvin@denali.gsfc.nasa.gov |