Venus and Earth are similar in bulk composition, size, density, and approximate distance from the Sun, yet Venus’s modern-day climate and surface geology is distinctly different. Previous missions to Venus revealed unusual volcanic features, possible continental crust, widespread volcanic plains, a weak magnetic field, and insights into the Venusian atmosphere. Unfortunately, data from these missions were limited in spatial and temporal resolution and global extent. A future mission to Venus is critical to address fundamental questions surrounding the chemical composition and dynamics of the Venusian atmosphere, its geologic history, its internal structure, and its habitability throughout time.
We present the Venus Air and Land Expedition: a Novel Trailblazer for In situ Exploration (VALENTInE) mission to meet this need. VALENTInE is a variable altitude balloon mission that will passively float in Venus’s atmosphere between 45 and 55 km altitude. VALENTInE will acquire atmospheric data at varying latitudes and longitudes in addition to mapping the surface geomorphology and mineralogy across multiple terrains. We intend for this to be a New Frontiers class (~$1B) mission.
The VALENTInE mission concept is driven by four main science objectives:
1. Determine whether the driving force of the superrotation of Venus’s atmosphere is caused by horizontal or vertical momentum transport.
2. Determine whether the atmospheric composition and noble gas inventory of the Venusian atmosphere is a product of outgassing from the initial protoplanetary source or if there are significant contributions from exogenic sources.
3. Determine whether the tesserae regions (particularly Aphrodite Terra) are felsic and relatively older than surrounding regions.
4. Determine if there is any evidence of a recent dynamo preserved in the rock record of Venus.
We present the Venus Air and Land Expedition: a Novel Trailblazer for In situ Exploration (VALENTInE) mission to meet this need. VALENTInE is a variable altitude balloon mission that will passively float in Venus’s atmosphere between 45 and 55 km altitude. VALENTInE will acquire atmospheric data at varying latitudes and longitudes in addition to mapping the surface geomorphology and mineralogy across multiple terrains. We intend for this to be a New Frontiers class (~$1B) mission.
The VALENTInE mission concept is driven by four main science objectives:
1. Determine whether the driving force of the superrotation of Venus’s atmosphere is caused by horizontal or vertical momentum transport.
2. Determine whether the atmospheric composition and noble gas inventory of the Venusian atmosphere is a product of outgassing from the initial protoplanetary source or if there are significant contributions from exogenic sources.
3. Determine whether the tesserae regions (particularly Aphrodite Terra) are felsic and relatively older than surrounding regions.
4. Determine if there is any evidence of a recent dynamo preserved in the rock record of Venus.
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Our overall mission design and the four main science questions VALENTInE would address. This is the intellectual property of the VALENTInE team.
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Venus may have had plate tectonics in its past, but they are not active today. The area we propose to study, Aphrodite Terra (red box), may be a piece of an ancient continent on Venus. Derived from the Venus basemap from Pioneer mission data, NASA.