Rocket Lab will send a spacecraft to Venus to search for traces of life

While NASA is searching for traces of life on Mars, the company Rocket Lab will send its own spacecraft to another "neighbor" of our planet.

Here's What We Know

In 2023, Rocket Lab will launch a mission aimed at finding traces of life on Venus. The company plans to finance the mission from its own budget. The spacecraft will be equipped with tools to search for molecules that contain carbon.

Venus attracted interest a couple of years ago, when researchers wrote an article that the atmosphere of the second planet in the solar system may contain phosphine. This is a gas that is produced on Earth by living organisms. Over time, materials appeared that the gas is absent from the atmosphere of Venus. In addition, phosphine may have a different origin. But despite all the nuances, Rocket Lab will still try its luck.

The company has said that its mission will be much cheaper than NASA's space agency projects. But the cost has not yet been specified. Rocket Lab will send to Venus probe weighing no more than 20 pounds using Electron launch vehicle. The start of the mission is scheduled for May 2023. If all goes according to plan, the probe will reach Venus by the end of the year. However, after such a long way, it will be able to work for a few minutes, and then will be destroyed because of high temperature and high pressure.

Source: Space.com

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