Venus Life Finder
Venus Life Finder is a planned uncrewed spacecraft to Venus designed to detect signs of life in the Venusian atmosphere. The first private Venus mission, the spacecraft is being developed by Rocket Lab in collaboration with a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The spacecraft will consist of a high energy Photon 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.
Artist's impression of the Venus Life Finder over Venus, before deployment of atmospheric probe | |
| Mission type | Atmospheric Probe |
|---|---|
| Operator | Rocket Lab / MIT |
| Website | |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Bus | High Energy Photon |
| Manufacturer | Rocket Lab |
| Dry mass | Probe:17 kg (37 lb) |
| Payload mass | Probe:1 kg (2.2 lb) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 30 December 2024 (planned) |
| Rocket | Electron |
| Launch site | Launch Complex 1, Māhia |
| Contractor | Rocket Lab |
| Flyby of Moon | |
| Closest approach | 2025 (planned) |
| Venus atmospheric probe | |
| Spacecraft component | Probe |
| Atmospheric entry | 13 May 2025 (planned) |
| Transponders | |
| Band | S-band |
Venus Life Finder Missions | |
Originally planned for launch in May 2023, the probe is now planned to launch no earlier then 30 December 2024, with arrival at Venus on 13 May 2025.
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