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2d ago

UK Proposes VERVE CubeSat to Sample Signs of Life in Venus’s Clouds

The €50–58 million mission would hitch a ride on ESA’s EnVision orbiter in 2031 to directly measure potential biosignature gases after NASA’s rival probe faces budget cuts.

© Danielle Futselaar
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Overview

  • VERVE is a CubeSat-scale probe proposed by a UK-led team to detach from ESA’s EnVision orbiter upon arrival at Venus in 2031 and independently sample atmospheric gases.
  • Its €50–58 million budget aims to map phosphine, ammonia, and other hydrogen-rich gases in Venus’s cloud layer to test if microbial processes produce these molecules.
  • Previous team detections of phosphine in 2020 and 2023 and ammonia in 2024 using remote telescopes revealed diurnal and spatial variability, underscoring the need for in situ measurements.
  • NASA’s DAVINCI mission, set to launch in 2030 and designed to probe Venus’s atmosphere, faces potential cancellation due to proposed U.S. budget cuts.
  • Conditions around 50 km altitude on Venus offer Earth-like temperatures (30–70 °C) and pressures that could support extremophile microbes, motivating direct sampling efforts.