Everything #DestinationVenus

For a long time, not much attention was paid to Venus. Last month, however, two probes paid a flying visit to Venus. The double flyby of the probes offered an unprecedented opportunity to collect data about Venus from several locations at the same time. The measurements give a foretaste of the three large Venus missions recently announced by NASA and ESA.

At OHB, Venus has been in vogue not only since the recent discovery of phosphine in its atmosphere. In a recently completed in-house study, a concept was developed together with scientists from various universities to bring measuring instruments into the planet's atmosphere and conduct an in-situ search for traces of life.

Missions to Venus are technically challenging. To counter heat and pressure, both NASA and OHB are working on concepts based on rather unusual ideas. While NASA plans to explore Earth's nearest neighboring planet with a mechanical rover, OHB is pressing ahead with the development of an atmospheric mission.

Dr Pascale Ehrenfreund, astrobiologist and CEO of the German Aerospace Center, explains why missions to Venus deepen our knowledge about Earth and advance the development of new technologies.

Missions to Venus are extremely challenging. Dr. Rolf Janovsky, head of pre-development at OHB, explains how traces of life could nevertheless be searched for in the planet's atmosphere.

Venus may have had a mild climate in the past. Astrophysicist Dr. Michael Joseph Way of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center talks about Venus' climate history and the need for further surface missions.

The last European mission to Venus improved our understanding of the greenhouse effect on Earth. Jan Wörner, ESA Director General, is convinced that further missions to Venus would also have a direct benefit for Earth.

At first glance, Venus is a planet with hostile conditions. Nevertheless, life could exist on the planet, says Dr. Klaus Slenzka, Head of the Life Sciences Department at OHB.

Marco Fuchs, CEO of OHB, on the benefits of a Venus mission.