NASA’s 2024 budget request includes a nearly total cut in funding for a highly anticipated Venus mission — and now, some prominent scientists say the decision amounts to effectively canceling a highly anticipated mission to second planet.
But not all space scientists and engineers agree with that assessment, saying critics of NASA’s budget are misusing the word “cancel.” The budget cuts have sparked debate in the community of astronomers, scientists and engineers who advocate for space exploration.
The mission in question is known as VERITAS, short for Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy (VERITAS). Originally scheduled to launch in 2027 before being pushed forward to 2031 and then returning to 2029, the spacecraft is a probe that will orbit the planet, capturing surface details via radar and creating 3D maps of the planet . The process could help scientists confirm which, if any, volcanoes are still active on Venus, while learning more about its geology. The last Venusian NASA orbiter was Magellanwhich was launched in 1989 and operated until 1994.
The Planetary Society’s head of space policy, Casey Dreier, is one of VERITAS’ advocates who believes the proposed budget cuts amount to an effective shutdown of the mission. Speaking to Gizmodo, Dreier said that the budget change doesn’t amount to “total cancellation, it’s a mild cancellation.” Dreier argued that – because NASA only requested $1.5 million in the 2024 budget proposal, instead of the expected $124 million – the engineers and scientists working on the project would only be able to keep their team working for the year. Dreier said that with little value, they will be left “in a holding pattern [. . .] the mission was not canceled, so it’s kind of a zombie mission right now.” Planetary volcanologist Tracy Gregg of the University at Buffalo also used the “c” word, Axios warning that NASA’s decision “suggests to everyone, not just the Venus community, but everyone in the planetary science community that NASA may cancel or postpone missions that have already been selected.”
Darby Dyar, VERITAS’ deputy principal investigator, seemed to sum up the consensus when he told Space.com that “the idea of quitting the team to help other missions doesn’t make sense in detail, and would actually present a huge risk.”
Based on the statements he received from NASA in a town hall held by the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, “NASA does not intend to cancel VERITAS but only delay it, with a restart as soon as the budget allows. I take them at the word there.”
But not all experts denounce NASA’s actions in such heated terms. Dr. Robert Herrick, a research professor at the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks who recently co-authored a study on Venusian volcanoes, told Salon via email that based on statements he received from to NASA at a town hall held by the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, “NASA does not intend to cancel VERITAS but merely postpone it, with a restart as soon as the budget allows. I take them at their word on that.” While stressing that he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the VERITAS mission regarding NASA budget issues, Herrick added that it seemed reasonable to allow the European Space Agency’s EnVision to begin observing the planet and then VERITAS would work on EnVision. “There are good scientific reasons to try to launch VERITAS later this decade so that it precedes the launch of EnVision.”
Noam Izenberg, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and Chair of NASA’s Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG), told Salon that he found the decision to delay “extremely disappointing.” However, Izenberg argued that given NASA’s repeatedly stated commitment to Venus exploration, “budget and workforce concerns make it, I believe, a question of ‘when,’ but not ‘if.’
In fact, NASA argued that its decision was not only due to traditional budget concerns, but also because of an investigation last year that strongly criticized NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for delays and serious logistical problems in other missions due to workforce shortages and poor planning. Because of this, the agency decided that other missions such as Europa Clipper, Psyche and NISAR had to be completed before VERITAS could have its turn at bat.
“Whenever, delaying a launch in 2031 is far from optimal, and there are compelling reasons (for science, manpower, and budget) to move it back to a late launch in 2029,” Izenberg wrote in Salon. “This would require additional short-term money that NASA does not have in the current, constrained budget, but may be within the power of Congress to provide.” The solution can come from ordinary citizens: “Continuous, positive support from the community today and the promotion is one of the best ways to convince this to be done. The VERITAS team has released a great formation to inform the those interested in supporting the mission.”
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Herrick told Salon that there are other possibilities for launching VERITAS within this decade, from private companies to efforts by other countries’ space agencies.
Izenberg also mentioned a number of upcoming Venus-based missions — including Japan’s Akatuska mission, a private small Venus mission by Rocket Lab currently scheduled for launch in January 2025; and NASA’s DAVINCI+ mission, which is scheduled to send a probe deep into the atmosphere of Venus in the summer of 2029.
“Finally, as Robbie Herrick’s paper showed us a few weeks ago, even at 30 years old, respectable data sets from Venus like Magellan’s radar maps of the world are there are still new things to tell us today,” Izenberg told Salon. Izenberg was referring to a recent study that used Magellan data, and suggested that there is active volcanic activity on Venus. If confirmed, this would mean that Venus is the only planet in our solar system (along with Earth) that still has active volcanoes. “There is still research that can be done today that will help us prepare for and maximize the return from all the upcoming missions,” Izenberg continued.
The volcano study is one of several recent papers that have led to a renewed interest in the study of Venus. Venus became the subject of intense study when, in 2020, astronomers believed they found phosphine gas, associated with anaerobic bacteria, in small concentrations in Venus’ atmosphere. However, subsequent studies did not detect phosphine.