NASA Plans 2 New Missions to Venus, Its First in Decades

Data from NASA's Magellan spacecraft and Pioneer Venus Orbiter is used in an undated composite image of the planet Venus. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout via Reuters

LOS ANGELES—NASA announced plans on Wednesday to launch a pair of missions to Venus between 2028 and 2030—its first in decades—to study the atmosphere and geologic features of Earth’s so-called sister planet and better understand why the two emerged so differently.

The U.S. space agency said it was awarding about $500 million each to develop the two missions, dubbed DAVINCI+ (short for Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble Gases, Chemistry and Imaging) and VERITAS (an acronym for Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography and Spectroscopy).