P022-01
DAVINCI+ Answers Long-Standing and Emerging Questions About the Venus Atmosphere
Wednesday, 9 December 2020: 04:00
Virtual
Stephanie Getty1, James Brian Garvin1, Giada N Arney1, Natasha Johnson2, Michael Amato1, David H Atkinson3, Sushil K Atreya4, William B Brinckerhoff5, Bruce A Campbell6, Valeria Cottini7, David Crisp8, Justin Filiberto9, Francois Forget10, Martha S Gilmore11, David H Grinspoon12, Amy Hofmann13, Noam Izenberg14, Stephen Kane15, Walter S. Kiefer16, Sebastien Lebonnois17, Ralph D Lorenz18, Paul R Mahaffy19, Charles Malespin1, Alexander Pavlov1, Michael A Ravine20, Kenneth Schwer21, Michael Sekerak21, Melissa G Trainer1, Christopher R Webster13, Kevin J Zahnle22 and DAVINCI+ Mission Engineering Team, (1)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (2)Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (3)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (4)University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, United States, (5)NASA, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (6)Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC, United States, (7)University of Maryland College Park, College Park, United States, (8)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States, (9)Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, IL, United States, (10)Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique UPMC, Paris, France, (11)Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, United States, (12)Planetary Science Institute Washington - PSI, Washington, DC, United States, (13)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (14)Johns Hopkins Univ, Laurel, MD, United States, (15)University of California Riverside, Department of Earth Sciences, Riverside, CA, United States, (16)Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX, United States, (17)CNRS, Paris Cedex 16, France, (18)JHU / APL, Laurel, MD, United States, (19)NASA Goddard SFC, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (20)Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, CA, United States, (21)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, United States, (22)NASA, Moffett Field, CA, United States
Abstract:
Fundamental questions remain about the origin, evolution, and composition of Venus, a planet that may have once hosted Earth-like water oceans. Signatures of Venus’ past and present state can be found in its stratified atmosphere, and particularly its poorly understood lower atmosphere. The Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging
plus (DAVINCI+) mission is designed to answer hypotheses about the climate and evolution of the potentially once-habitable Venus over time.
DAVINCI+ carries a descent probe that will reveal fundamental details of the Venus atmosphere and surface and camera suite to provide spatial context from orbit. If selected for implementation in the Discovery program, DAVINCI+ will build significantly upon the legacy of prior missions to provide the first detailed in situ study of bulk and trace gases of the lower atmosphere. The descent probe will conduct altitude-resolved measurements of composition, isotopes, and winds, pressure, and temperature down to very near the surface of Alpha Regio tessera. The profile of sulfur-, oxygen-, and chlorine-bearing species, coupled with UV imagery from orbit, will elucidate the atmospheric cycles at play and provide new constraints on the composition of the unknown UV absorber and exchange processes between the surface and atmosphere. Bulk measurements of atmospheric noble gases, particularly xenon, will definitively establish the volatile inventory of primordial Venus. These measurements are critical to constraining fundamental knowledge and timing of processes (e.g., volcanism) that have determined the evolutionary pathways of this runaway greenhouse planet.
Venus has emerged as an ideal target for investigations of habitability across time. Recent studies suggesting an ancient Venus with liquid water at its surface, possibly persisting for billions of years, are strongly motivating our next visit to and through Venus’ atmosphere. The astrobiological context of Venus is emerging as an area of community excitement and may be revealed through definitive atmospheric measurements. DAVINCI+ is poised to pave the way for future missions, including future orbiters, aerial platforms, and landers that might target the potential for present-day or ancient biosignatures at Venus.
