Venus Life Finder Missions Motivation and Summary

Seager, Sara; Petkowski, Janusz J.; Carr, Christopher E.; Grinspoon, David H.; Ehlmann, Bethany L.; Saikia, Sarag J.; Agrawal, Rachana; Buchanan, Weston P.; Weber, Monika U.; French, Richard; Klupar, Pete; Worden, Simon P.; Baumgardner, Darrel; on behalf of the Venus Life Finder Mission Team,

Author(s)

Seager, Sara; Petkowski, Janusz J.; Carr, Christopher E.; Grinspoon, David H.; Ehlmann, Bethany L.; ... Show more

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Abstract

Finding evidence of extraterrestrial life would be one of the most profound scientific discoveries ever made, advancing humanity into a new epoch of cosmic awareness. The Venus Life Finder (VLF) missions feature a series of three direct atmospheric probes designed to assess the habitability of the Venusian clouds and search for signs of life and life itself. The VLF missions are an astrobiology-focused set of missions, and the first two out of three can be launched quickly and at a relatively low cost. The mission concepts come out of an 18-month study by an MIT-led worldwide consortium.

Date issued

2022-07-18

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/144035

Department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Publisher

Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute

Citation

Aerospace 9 (7): 385 (2022)

Version: Final published version

Collections

MIT Open Access Articles