NASA’s Venus Proble to Investigate Planet’s Atmosphere

NASA will deploy a measuring instrument on a mission to Venus that will investigate the planet’s atmosphere.

The Venus Atmospheric Structure Investigation instrument will be installed on the Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Nobel gases, Chemistry, and Imaging mission’s descent sphere. It will measure Venus’ temperature, pressure and wind speed and direction and will provide the primary altitude for the DAVINCI descent sphere’s atmospheric composition instruments.

VASI will give scientists a clearer picture of the planet, NASA said.

Ralph Lorenz, a scientist at Johns Hopkins University-Applied Physics Laboratory, said the DAVINCI mission will allow researchers to know more about the atmospheric composition of Venus. He added that the mission will also determine if the planet’s volcanoes are still active and how they interact with the atmosphere.

To get accurate readings of Venus’ temperature and atmosphere, VASI must be directly exposed to harsh conditions such as high pressures and extreme heat. The DAVINCI descent sphere is built like a submarine to ensure that instruments can withstand extreme conditions while performing their tasks.

VASI’s components include a temperature sensing tube, a silicon membrane for measuring pressure, gyroscopes, accelerometers and doppler tracking.

VASI is being assembled by the Goddard Space Flight Center and JHU-APL. Goddard is the principal investigator institution of the DAVINCI mission and will provide instruments and project systems engineering for the initiative.