Artist's impression of the Venus Life Finder's Photon Explorer over Venus, carrying the atmospheric probe before deployment
Mission type
Atmospheric Probe
Operator
Rocket Lab / MIT
Website
Rocket Lab
MIT
Spacecraft properties
Bus
Photon Explorer[1]
Manufacturer
Rocket Lab
Dry mass
Probe:17 kg (37 lb)[2]
Payload mass
Probe:1 kg (2.2 lb)[2]
Start of mission
Launch date
30 December 2024 (planned)[3]
Rocket
Electron
Launch site
Launch Complex 1, Māhia[4]
Contractor
Rocket Lab
Flyby of Moon
Closest approach
2025 (planned)
Venus atmospheric probe
Spacecraft component
Probe
Atmospheric entry
13 May 2025 (planned)[3]
Transponders
Band
S-band[4]
Venus Life Finder Missions[5]
Venus Habitability Mission →
Venus Life Finder is a planned uncrewed spacecraft to Venus designed to detect signs of life in the Venusian atmosphere.[4] The first private Venus mission, the spacecraft is being developed by Rocket Lab in collaboration with a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[6] The spacecraft will consist of a Photon Explorer cruise stage which will send a small atmospheric probe into Venus with a single instrument, an autofluorescing nephelometer, to search for organic compounds within Venus' atmosphere.[7]
Originally planned for launch in May 2023, the probe is now planned to launch no earlier than 30 December 2024, with arrival at Venus on 13 May 2025.[3]
^Cite error: The named reference rocketlabspacecraft was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abCite error: The named reference campbell1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abcFoust, Jeff (31 October 2023). "Rocket Lab plans launch of Venus mission as soon as late 2024". SpaceNews. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
^ abcFrench, Richard; Mandy, Christophe; Hunter, Richard; Mosleh, Ehson; Sinclair, Doug; Beck, Peter; Seager, Sara; Petkowski, Janusz J.; Carr, Christopher E.; Grinspoon, David H.; Baumgardner, Darrel (16 August 2022). "Rocket Lab Mission to Venus". Aerospace. 9 (8): 7. arXiv:2208.07724. Bibcode:2022Aeros...9..445F. doi:10.3390/aerospace9080445.
^Cite error: The named reference Seager1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Rocket Lab Probe". Venus Cloud Life - MIT. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Archived from the original on 8 February 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
^O'Callaghan, Jonathan. "The first private mission to Venus will have just five minutes to hunt for life". MIT Technology Review. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Archived from the original on 19 January 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
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