DAVINCI

DAVINCI is a NASA mission to study the origin, evolution and present state of Venus, to help determine whether the planet was once wet and habitable like Earth.^[1] It is named after the artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci.^[1] Together with VERITAS, it is to be the first NASA mission to Venus since the 1990s.^[1][2]

A spacecraft and a probe

DAVINCI has two parts. The spacecraft is to make a series of flybys, tracking the motion of Venus' clouds and mapping the composition of its surface.^[1] Two years into the mission, it is to release a probe that descends through the planet's thick atmosphere, measuring its chemistry, temperature, pressure and winds on the way down.^[1]

Below the clouds, the probe is to photograph Alpha Regio, a mountainous region that may be among the oldest surfaces on Venus, giving scientists a remote look at rocks that are billions of years old.^[1] The measurements are to show how Venus' atmosphere formed and changed over the past 4.5 billion years.^[1]

Why Venus

Venus is similar to Earth in size and structure, but its thick atmosphere traps heat in a runaway greenhouse effect, making it the hottest planet in the solar system.^[2] The companion orbiter is VERITAS.