NASA is preparing to return to Venus exploration with two major missions after years of delays and funding threats. The DAVINCI mission is currently scheduled to launch in December 2030, a year earlier than previously planned, while the VERITAS mission is targeting a launch in November 2032.
DAVINCI will send a parachute-equipped probe through Venus’s dense atmosphere, in a mission that will capture the first direct images of the planet’s surface since 1982. VERITAS, meanwhile, will operate from orbit to produce more detailed radar maps of Venus’s surface, with particular interest in regions that may be experiencing volcanic activity.
What changed in the schedule?
Researchers announced during a meeting of the Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG) that DAVINCI will use a low-energy trajectory, allowing its launch date to be moved forward by 54 weeks to late December 2030. After a close flyby of Venus in early 2032, the spacecraft will release its descent probe on October 3, 2032.
The descent will take about an hour, and the battery-powered probe will have to transmit images and data to Earth through the carrier spacecraft before it disappears behind Venus’s horizon. Teams are working to improve the final eight to ten minutes of the descent, when the probe passes through the extremely dense and hot atmospheric conditions.
Recent tests showed that a prototype probe kept its internal components below 30 degrees Celsius despite exposure to the heat expected at Venus. DAVINCI teams also tested the cameras’ and instruments’ ability to collect data during the probe’s one-time descent.
VERITAS returns from the brink of cancellation
VERITAS was threatened with cancellation after planetary science budget pressures, partly linked to delays and cost overruns on the Psyche mission, slowed its development. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) also suffered layoffs and the cancellation of the Mars Sample Return project.
NASA now says that VERITAS is funded and has a launch date in November 2032. It is expected to reach Venus around mid-2033 and then begin an aerobraking phase before scientific observation operations. It will carry a radar more advanced than that of the Magellan mission, which mapped Venus’s overall surface features between 1989 and 1994 at a resolution of approximately no better than the size of a football field.
What does this mean for Venus research?
Venus is regaining a prominent place in the planetary exploration program after decades during which agencies focused on Mars, asteroids and icy moons. This scientific direction matters because Venus is close to Earth and similar to it in size, but it became a world with an atmosphere consisting almost entirely of carbon dioxide, clouds of sulfuric acid and temperatures of approximately 467 degrees Celsius. Comparing the two planets may help explain the causes of runaway greenhouse warming on Venus.
The two missions will operate as part of a broader program. The European Space Agency plans to launch the Envision orbiter in 2032, after NASA decided to withdraw from providing a primary radar for it because of budget constraints, while ESA moves toward building a European radar. Rocket Lab is also targeting the launch of a privately funded probe, perhaps in late 2027, to search for indicators of organic materials in Venus’s upper clouds.
The current improvement does not eliminate funding risks. The Donald Trump administration has twice proposed major cuts to the planetary science budget, while Congress restored most of the funding for fiscal year 2026 and is expected to do the same in the 2027 budget. Therefore, the current launch dates represent real progress, but they remain dependent on continued financial support and the ability to carry out complex space projects in a harsh operational environment.