NASA Deep Atmosphere of Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging” (DAVINCI) will launch to Venus in 2029 and includes an atmospheric descent probe.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
James Tralie (ADNET):
Lead Producer
Lead Editor
Giada Arney (NASA):
Narrator
Walt Feimer (KBRwyle):
Animator
Jonathan North (KBRwyle):
Animator
Michael Lentz (KBRwyle):
Animator
Krystofer Kim (KBRwyle):
Animator
James Garvin (NASA, Chief Scientist Goddard):
Scientist
Music: "Blackened Skies" by Enrico Cacace and Lorenzo Castellarin of Universal Production Music
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
James Tralie (ADNET):
Lead Producer
Lead Editor
Giada Arney (NASA):
Narrator
Walt Feimer (KBRwyle):
Animator
Jonathan North (KBRwyle):
Animator
Michael Lentz (KBRwyle):
Animator
Krystofer Kim (KBRwyle):
Animator
James Garvin (NASA, Chief Scientist Goddard):
Scientist
Music: "Blackened Skies" by Enrico Cacace and Lorenzo Castellarin of Universal Production Music
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TechTranscript
00:00It's 900 degrees hot at the surface, has powerful high-altitude winds, and is blanketed by a
00:08dense carbon dioxide atmosphere.
00:11The planet, Venus.
00:12Although the same size and density as Earth, the similarities end there.
00:17Earth has water and light, Venus is desolate, dry, apparently lightless.
00:31The DAVINCI mission, named after Leonardo da Vinci, will now take us back to Venus and
00:36address unresolved questions about this mysterious planet.
00:40This exciting new mission will launch in June 2029.
00:44During two gravity-assist flybys, da Vinci will study the cloud tops in ultraviolet light,
00:50tracking cloud motions and analyzing mysterious ultraviolet-absorbing chemicals.
00:56Both flybys will also examine nightside heat emanating from the surface.
01:02These geological clues will paint a global picture of surface composition and its evolution.
01:08Seven months after our second flyby, da Vinci will release its atmospheric descent probe,
01:13which will enter the atmosphere over the course of two days.
01:17The probe will take about an hour to fall through the atmosphere, taking measurements
01:21down to the surface.
01:23These measurements will include profiles of composition, winds, temperature, pressure,
01:28and acceleration.
01:30Key gases will help us understand how Venus formed and evolved.
01:35Some of these measurements may even reveal signatures of ancient water.
01:40The spherical probe houses the state-of-the-art instruments that will work together to address
01:45questions about the Venus atmosphere, protecting them from the extreme temperatures, high pressures,
01:51and acidic clouds in the environment.
01:53Da Vinci's camera peers down through a small viewing port, and once the probe passes below
01:59the clouds, it will start to collect a series of three-dimensional views that will also
02:03help us understand whether the rocks of the Alpha Regiohighland region reveal a story
02:09of an ancient continent shaped by water.
02:12And an oxygen-sensing student collaboration experiment will reveal the role of this gas
02:17in the deep atmosphere.
02:19The discoveries that emerge from this diverse dataset will help tell us whether Venus was
02:24once habitable.
02:26And the story that we reveal will reach even beyond our solar system to analog exoplanets
02:33that will be observed with the James Webb Space Telescope.
02:37Venus is waiting for us all, and Da Vinci is ready to take us there and ignite a new
02:43Venus renaissance.