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Space Topics: Venus Express

Mission Objectives

Venus Express
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Venus Express Credit: ESA

The Venus Express mission seeks to answer a number of fundamental questions about the bizarre atmosphere of Earth’s sister planet, as well as its surface and the plasma environment.  Venus Express will observe the atmosphere from a highly elliptical orbit that will dive to within about 300 kilometers (less than 200 miles) of the surface at high latitudes in order to perform high-resolution imaging studies and spectrographic measurements, then soar high above the planet at middle and low latitudes in order to perform global studies including making movies of the shifting cloud patterns.

Specifically, Venus Express will:

  • Study Venus’ plasma environment and its interaction with the solar wind;
  • Study the global circulation pattern of Venus’ atmosphere;
  • Study the composition and vertical structure of the atmosphere;
  • Study the composition and physical structure of the clouds;
  • Seek to understand the mechanism by which Venus’ greenhouse works;
  • Study the composition of the lowermost atmosphere to understand how it interacts with the surface;
  • Search for lightning and for hot spots from volcanic activity; and
  • Attempt to map the surface optically through infrared “windows.”