News Planetary Science

What will it take to go to Venus?

Despite no go-ahead for missions, scientists are still trying to get to Earth’s evil twin

Venus

BLUE MARBLE  From the outside, you would never know how hostile Venus’ surface is. This false-color image of Venus from the Akatsuki spacecraft shows a cloud-covered atmosphere as complex and dynamic as Earth’s.

Damia Bouic/DARTS/ISAS/JAXA

By Lisa Grossman

This article is only available to Science News subscribers.

Subscribers, enter your e-mail address to access our archives.

Not a subscriber?

Science News is a nonprofit.

Support us by subscribing now.

More Stories from Science News on Planetary Science

  1. OSIRIS-REx spacecraft illustration
    Space

    NASA’s OSIRIS-REx survived its risky mission to grab a piece of an asteroid

    By Lisa Grossman
  2. Bennu
    Space

    The asteroid Bennu’s brittle boulders may make grabbing a sample easier

    By Lisa Grossman
  3. Mars south pole
    Space

    A ‘lake’ on Mars may be surrounded by more pools of water

    By Christopher Crockett
  4. photograph of China’s Chang'e-4 lunar lander on the moon
    Space

    A new moon radiation measurement may help determine health risks to astronauts

    By Aayushi Pratap
  5. Comet 67P's aurora
    Planetary Science

    Rosetta data reveal an invisible ultraviolet aurora around comet 67P

    By Maria Temming
  6. astronaut on moon
    Space

    How do you clean up clingy space dust? Zap it with an electron beam

    By Jack J. Lee
  7. Akatsuki spacecraft
    Space

    Phosphine gas found in Venus’ atmosphere may be ‘a possible sign of life’

    By Lisa Grossman
  8. enstatite chondrite
    Planetary Science

    Earth’s building blocks may have had far more water than previously thought

    By Christopher Crockett

From the Nature Index

Paid Content