VERITAS: Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography & Spectroscopy
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
VERITAS Mission
Subcontract to PSI from Jet Propulsion Laboratory
External Partners
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Project Description
VERITAS will be the first NASA spacecraft to explore Earth’s sister planet Venus since the 1990s. The spacecraft will discover the secrets of a lost habitable world on Venus, gathering data to reveal how the paths of Venus and Earth diverged.
VERITAS is an acronym for Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy. The word veritas means truth in Latin, and the mission will reveal the truth of how Venus’ and Earth’s paths diverged. Led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the mission will help scientists understand how Venus became an inhospitable inferno, while Earth evolved to become home to an abundance of life.
VERITAS will unlock the secrets of Venus’ surface and interior evolution by searching for evidence of past and present water, providing an inventory of current and recent volcanic and surface activity, and answering critical questions about the evolution of rocky planets.
VERITAS firsts include:
- Create the first global, high-resolution topographic and radar images of Venus
- Make the first maps of regions where geologic processes are actively changing the surface of Venus
- Produce the first near-global map of surface rock composition
- Make the first determination of core composition and whether it is solid or liquid
