/sci/ - Science & Math

https://www.space.com/rocket-lab-private-venus-mission-delayed-2025

> Rocket Lab announced its planned Venus mission in August 2020, then fleshed out its architecture in a paper published in the journal Aerospace two years later. The primary goal is to investigate the Venusian atmosphere to search for conditions needed for life to exist.

https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/9/8/445/htm

> Abstract
>Regular, low-cost Decadal-class science missions to planetary destinations will be enabled by high-ΔV small spacecraft, such as the high-energy Photon, and small launch vehicles, such as Electron, to support expanding opportunities for scientists and to increase the rate of science return. The Rocket Lab mission to Venus is a small direct entry probe planned for baseline launch in May 2023 with accommodation for a single ~1 kg instrument. A backup launch window is available in January 2025. The probe mission will spend about 5 min in the Venus cloud layers at 48–60 km altitude above the surface and collect in situ measurements. We have chosen a low-mass, low-cost autofluorescing nephelometer to search for organic molecules in the cloud particles and constrain the particle composition.