DistantNews
Support us
Swedish-Indian Space Program Aims to Solve Venus Mystery
🇸🇪 Sweden /Technology

Swedish-Indian Space Program Aims to Solve Venus Mystery

From Dagens Nyheter · () Swedish

Translated from Swedish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified New plan
  • A new Swedish-Indian space mission will investigate Venus, aiming to understand why the planet lost its water.
  • Swedish researchers at the Institute for Space Physics will contribute an instrument to the Indian Venus Orbiter Mission, launching in 2028.
  • The mission seeks to understand Venus's atmospheric interactions and potential reasons for its different evolutionary path compared to Earth, possibly related to its lack of a magnetic field.

Sweden and India are embarking on a collaborative space mission to unravel the mysteries of Venus, focusing on why the planet, once Earth's twin, lost its water and developed a vastly different atmosphere. The Swedish Institute for Space Physics (IRF) in Kiruna will play a crucial role in India's Venus Orbiter Mission, scheduled for launch in 2028.

Sweden is proud to be on the way to Venus together with India.

— Ulf KristerssonSwedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's statement on the collaborative space mission.

Swedish researchers have developed and built a measuring instrument called the Venusian Neutrals Analyzer (VNA) that will be on board the Indian spacecraft. This instrument will measure neutral particles in Venus's environment, providing insights into how its upper atmosphere interacts with space. Scientists hope this will help explain how Venus and Earth, despite their similar beginnings, evolved so differently.

This is a unique opportunity to learn more about Venus.

— Stas BarabashProfessor and deputy director-general at IRF, commenting on the mission's significance.

"It's a unique opportunity to learn more about Venus," said Stas Barabash, a professor and deputy director-general at IRF. He explained that billions of years ago, Venus likely had oceans like Earth, but something caused it to dry out. "Venus was quite similar to Earth at first, but then something happened. Venus today has an atmosphere 100 times heavier than Earth's... and the planet has lost all the water that was there before," Barabash stated.

Venus was quite similar to Earth at first, but then something happened. Venus today has an atmosphere 100 times heavier than Earth's... and the planet has lost all the water that was there before.

— Stas BarabashExplaining the drastic differences between Venus and Earth.

One key question the mission aims to address is whether Venus's lack of a global magnetic field, unlike Earth's, contributed to its water loss. The VNA's data could shed light on this and other atmospheric processes. This collaboration builds on previous Swedish contributions to space exploration, including instruments for the European Space Agency's Venus Express mission, which orbited Venus from 2006 to 2014.

Could it have played a role in the water disappearing? That is one of the questions we would like to have answers to.

— Stas BarabashSpeculating on the role of Venus's magnetic field in its evolution.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Dagens Nyheter in Swedish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog