Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for science, said in a statement the agency is “revving up” to intensely explore Venus.
“Using cutting-edge technologies that NASA has developed and refined over many years of missions and technology programs, we’re ushering in a new decade of Venus to understand how an Earth-like planet can become a hothouse. Our goals are profound. It is not just understanding the evolution of planets and habitability in our own solar system, but extending beyond these boundaries to exoplanets, an exciting and emerging area of research for NASA.”
Zurbuchen said he anticipates the data collected from the missions will be significantly beneficial to the scientific community.
Discovery Program scientist Tom Wagner agreed.
“It is astounding how little we know about Venus, but the combined results of these missions will tell us about the planet from the clouds in its sky through the volcanoes on its surface all the way down to its very core. It will be as if we have rediscovered the planet.”
