Exploration
More than 40 spacecraft have launched for Venus. One spacecraft – Japan's Akatsuki – is currently in orbit. Three new Venus missions will launch in the next decade.
NASA's Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to visit any planet beyond Earth when it flew past Venus on Dec. 14, 1962. Data gathered in a 42-minute scan forever changed how we see Earth's closest neighbor. It revealed Venus as a runaway global hothouse. Understanding what went wrong with Venus' climate could help protect Earth.
"What's so fascinating is that both Earth and Venus are about the same size," said Lori Glaze, NASA's Director of Planetary Science. She is a longtime Venus expert. "Venus is a little smaller, but not much. They have similar gravity. They formed in the same part of the solar system. They probably formed at about the same time. And you would think that they would have evolved very similarly. But they didn't. Earth and Venus went very different directions."
Exploring the surface of Venus is difficult because of the intense heat and crushing air pressure. The longest any spacecraft has survived on the surface is a little over two hours – a record set by the Soviet Union's Venera 13 probe in 1981.
NASA's DAVINCI mission is next up with a planned probe landing in 2031. The probe will focus on the atmospheric descent, but there is a chance it will send surface data for a few minutes.
NASA's VERITAS and ESA's EnVision will follow with orbital observations in the 2030s.
Missions to Venus
Launch Date | Spacecraft | Nation | Type | Outcome |
---|---|---|---|---|
Feb 4, 1961 | 1VA/1 | USSR | Impact | Failure |
Feb 12, 1961 | 1VA/2 | USSR | Impact | Failure |
Jul 22, 1962 | Mariner 1 | USA | Impact | Failure |
Aug 27, 1962 | Mariner 2 | USA | Flyby | Success-First |
Sep 1, 1962 | 2MV-1/4 | USSR | Impact | Failure |
Sep 12, 1962 | 2MV-2/1 | USSR | Impact | Failure |
Feb 19, 1964 | 3MV-1A | USSR | Flyby | Failure |
Mar 27, 1964 | Kosmos 27 | USSR | Impact | Failure |
Apr 2, 1964 | Zond 1 | USSR | Flyby | Failure |
Nov 12, 1965 | Venera 2 | USSR | Flyby | Success |
Nov 16, 1965 | Venera 3 | USSR | Impact | Success-First |
Nov 23, 1965 | Kosmos 96 | USSR | Impact | Success |
Jun 12, 1965 | Venera 4 | USSR | Atmospheric Probe | Success-First |
Jun 14, 1965 | Mariner 5 | USA | Flyby | Success |
Jun 14, 1967 | Kosmos 167 | USSR | Impact | Failure |
Jan 5, 1969 | Venera 5 | USSR | Atmospheric Probe | Success |
Jan 10, 1969 | Venera 6 | USSR | Atmospheric Probe | Success |
Aug 17,1970 | Venera 7 | USSR | Lander | Success-First |
Aug 22, 1970 | Kosmos 359 | USSR | Lander | Failure |
Mar 27, 1972 | Venera 8 | USSR | Lander | Success |
Mar 31, 1972 | Kosmos 482 | USSR | Lander | Failure |
Nov 3, 1973 | Mariner 10 | USA | Flyby | Success |
Jun 8, 1975 | Venera 9 | USSR | Orbiter/Lander | Success-First |
Jun 14, 1975 | Venera 10 | USSR | Orbiter/Lander | Success-First |
May 20, 1978 | Pioneer Venus 1 | USA | Orbiter | Success |
Aug 8, 1978 | Pioneer Venus 2 | USA | Impact | Success |
Sep 9, 1978 | Veneral 11 | USSR | Lander | Success |
Sep 14, 1978 | Venera 12 | USSR | Lander | Success |
Oct 30, 1981 | Venera 13 | USSR | Lander | Success |
Nov 4, 1983 | Venera 14 | USSR | Lander | Success |
Jun 2, 1983 | Venera 15 | USSR | Orbiter | Success |
Jun 7, 1983 | Venera 16 | USSR | Orbiter | Success |
Dec 14, 1984 | Vega 1 | USSR | Lander | Success |
Dec 21, 1983 | Vega 2 | USSR | Lander | Success |
May 4, 1989 | Magellan | USA | Orbiter | Success-First |
Oct 18, 1989 | Galileo | USA | Flyby | Success |
Oct 15, 1997 | Cassini | USA | Flyby (multiple) | Success |
Nov 9, 2005 | Venus Express | ESA | Orbiter | Success |
May 20, 2010 | Akatsuki | Japan | Orbiter | Success |
May 20, 2010 | Shin'en | Japan | Encounter | Partial Success |
May 20, 2010 | IKAROS | Japan | Flyby | Success |
Aug 12, 2018 | Parker Solar Probe | USA | Flyby (multiple) | Success |
Oct 20, 2018 | BepiColombo | ESA/JAXA | Flyby (multiple) | Success |
Future Missions
Proposed Launch | Spacecraft | Nation | Type | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
~2029 | DAVINCI | USA | Orbiter/Atmospheric Probe | In Development |
~2030 | EnVision | ESA | Orbiter | In Development |
~2031 | VERITAS | USA | Orbiter | In Devlopment |