Sara Seager, an MIT planetary scientist, is building the first probe to enter Venus's atmosphere in 40 years to search for signs of life in its sulfuric acid clouds. The mission challenges decades of scientific consensus that dismissed Venus as uninhabitable, prompted by the 2020 detection of phosphine—a potential biosignature—in Venus's upper atmosphere where conditions are surprisingly Earth-like.
Venus likely once had a moon that spiraled into and collided with the planet over millions to billions of years, according to a new preprint modeling different scenarios. Unlike Earth, Venus lacks the stable gravitational conditions needed to retain a moon long-term, though upcoming NASA missions may help confirm this theory.
The European Space Agency will proceed independently with its Envision Venus orbiter mission after NASA determined it cannot provide a planned radar instrument due to budget constraints from proposed science funding cuts by the Trump administration. Envision will map Venus's surface at higher resolution than previous missions using radar to penetrate the planet's sulfuric acid clouds and search for signs of volcanism. NASA's reduced planetary science budget is forcing the agency to prioritize its own missions and reduce support for international partnerships.