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The Pioneer Venus spacecraft
Science & Exploration

Past missions to Venus

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Since the beginning of the space era, Venus has been an attractive subject for planetary science. Being twice as close to Earth as Mars at the closest approach point, it was one of the first natural targets to explore.

The Pioneer Venus spacecraft
The Pioneer Venus spacecraft

NASA's Pioneer Venus mission (1978), the Soviet Union's Venera 15 and 16 missions (1983–1984), and NASA's Magellan radar mapping mission (1990–1994) provided together a comprehensive picture of a hot, dry world, with landscapes shaped by volcanic and intense geological activity. There were vast plains marked by lava flows, bordered by highlands and mountains.

The Soviet Russian Venera 15 spacecraft
The Soviet Russian Venera 15 spacecraft

Later on, the discovery of the night-side thermal emissions from the deep inside the atmosphere of Venus provided an effective tool to peek through the dense clouds and study the lower atmospheric layers.

The Galileo and Cassini spacecraft were the first to use this phenomenon during their short flybys en route to Jupiter and Saturn.

 Mission (year)  Type Highlights  
Mariner 2
NASA, 1962
Atmospheric probe First spacecraft at Venus, closest distance 35 000 km No magnetic field detected
Venera 4
USSR, 1967
Atmospheric probe First probe to return data about atmospheric composition Crushed by pressure before reaching the surface
Venera 5 & 6
USSR, 1969
Atmospheric probes Detected presence of atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen Crushed by pressure before reaching the surface
Venera 7
USSR, 1970
Lander First successful soft landing of a spacecraft on another planet Measured surface temperature and pressure
Venera 8
USSR, 1972
Lander First to measure windspeed as it descended through atmosphere Surface composition measured by gamma-ray spectrometer
Mariner 10
NASA, 1974
Flyby First spacecraft to have an imaging system, flew by on way to Mercury in 1974 Recorded atmospheric circulation and cloud-top temperatures
Venera 9 & 10
USSR, 1975
2 orbiter/landers First spacecraft in orbit around Venus Landers returned the first black and white panoramic images of surface
Pioneer Venus 1 & 2
NASA, 1978–1992
1 orbiter
4 atmospheric probes
Longest mission in orbit around Venus (14 years) and first orbiter to make radar map of surface Measured structure, composition and cloud properties down to 12 km altitude
Venera 11 & 12
USSR, 1978
Fly-by, 2 landers Landers investigated structure and composition of atmosphere and clouds, measured solar radiation Atmospheric dynamics were studied by Doppler tracking
Venera 13 & 14
USSR, 1982
Fly-by, 2 landers Landers returned the first colour panoramic views of the surface Conducted soil analysis, found leucite basalt (rare on Earth) and tholeiitic basalt
Venera 15 & 16
USSR, 1983
2 orbiters Radar mapping of the surface Detailed study of mesosphere and cloud tops by high-resolution thermal emission spectroscopy
Vega 1 & 2
USSR, 1985
Flybys, 1 lander and 1 balloon each En route to Comet Halley, dropped first balloons into atmosphere of another planet, to record winds Landers provided precise temperature profiles down to surface
Magellan
NASA, 1990–1994
Orbiter First almost-global radar mapping of the surface
Galileo
NASA, 1990
Flyby en route to Jupiter Spectral imaging of night-side near-infrared emissions Detection of radio waves possibly emitted by lightning
Cassini-Huygens
NASA/ESA/ASI, 1998 & 1999
Flybys en route to Saturn Spectral imaging of night-side near-infrared emissions
Venus Express
ESA, 2006–2014
Orbiter A global investigation of the Venusian atmosphere Signs of volcanic activity
Messenger
NASA, 2006 & 2007
Flybys en route to Mercury Visible and near-infrared imaging of the upper atmosphere
Akatsuki
JAXA, 2015–
Orbiter Imaging of the atmosphere with in infrared, visible, and ultraviolet wavelengths Investigates the flow and make-up of clouds, and looks for lightning and volcanic activity
Parker Solar Probe
NASA, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024
Flybys to bend orbit closer to the Sun Imaging of Venus in visible to near-infrared light
BepiColombo
ESA/JAXA, 2020 & 2021
Flybys en route to Mercury Imaging in visible light, accelerometer, particle and magnetometer data Joint flyby observations with Akatsuki in 2020 and Solar Orbiter in 2021
Solar Orbiter
ESA/NASA, 2020, 2021, 2022, ...
Flybys to tilt orbit around the Sun Magnetic, plasma and particle measurements Joint flyby observations with BepiColombo in 2021

Venus Express was Europe's first mission dedicated to studying Venus, orbiting the hot planet from 2006 to 2014. The only other Venus orbiter is JAXA's ongoing Akatsuki mission; after a failed orbital insertion manouevre in 2010 it made a successful second attempt in 2015.

But despite the intensive past exploration of the planet, many of the planet’s peculiar features remain unexplained.

Future plans

Envision
Envision

ESA's next Venus orbiter will be Envision, which will be the first mission to provide a holistic view of the planet from its inner core to upper atmosphere. By studying all of Venus's different layers – and how they interact – Envision hopes to determine how and why Venus and Earth evolved so differently. The mission was selected by ESA’s Science Programme Committee on 10 June 2021 as the fifth Medium-class mission in the Agency’s Cosmic Vision plan, targeting a launch in the early 2030s.

NASA has also selected two new missions to Venus as part of its Discovery Program, each expected to launch in the 2028-2030 timeframe: DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) and VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy).

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