Things are finally looking up for NASA's first missions to Venus in a generation

Two NASA missions to Venus have been returned to active development and given concrete launch windows: DAVINCI is scheduled for launch in December 2030 and will drop a parachute-assisted, battery-powered titanium descent probe through the atmosphere to image the surface and sample gases, delivering the first direct surface images since the early 1980s during an October 3, 2032 descent. Engineers have validated the probe’s cameras and instruments and proven a thermal design that holds internal components below 30°C; mission planners secured a low-delta-V trajectory that improves fuel margins and could allow the carrier spacecraft to enter Venus orbit on a later return. VERITAS is funded with a November 2032 launch and will arrive around mid-2033, use aerobraking, and operate a much higher-resolution radar to remake Venus maps and target suspected volcanic regions far beyond the resolution of Magellan.

Venus exploration was sidelined for decades by Mars and outer-planet priorities, but renewed scientific interest and restored funding have rescued the two missions after threats from budget shortfalls driven by delays and overruns on other programs. NASA’s withdrawal from providing a radar for Europe’s Envision orbiter forced ESA to proceed with a European instrument, yet Envision still targets 2032. Advocacy from the planetary community and congressional restorations of planetary science budgets freed resources to accelerate DAVINCI and keep VERITAS alive, while private efforts such as a Rocket Lab cloud-probe could add earlier, complementary observations.