Why We’re Going Back to Venus, with David Grinspoon

After an embarrassingly long hiatus since the 1980s, NASA is launching two new missions to Venus: Da Vinci, an entry probe designed to descend through the atmosphere and reach the surface, and Veritas, an orbiter. The Da Vinci mission, expected to launch around 2031, will use modern instrumentation to measure atmospheric gases and isotopes, and capture high-resolution stereo descent photography of a mountainous region, providing unprecedented data on Venus's history and geology.

David Grinspoon, on the science team for Da Vinci, details these missions. The Da Vinci probe will measure atmospheric composition and perform descent photography, while Veritas is an orbiter. The last U.S. mission to Venus was in the 1980s. (0:03, 1:59, 26:08, 29:13)

Venus's surface is incredibly hostile, with temperatures reaching 900°F (hotter than a self-cleaning oven) and pressures almost 100 times Earth's surface pressure, compounded by sulfuric acid clouds. However, the upper clouds of Venus offer a more moderate, stable environment—comparable to Earth's surface temperature and pressure—which could potentially host life, making the Da Vinci mission's atmospheric measurements crucial for astrobiology.

Grinspoon describes the surface conditions and notes that the upper clouds have temperatures and pressures similar to Earth's surface. He addresses the 'why aren't Earth's clouds green?' objection by pointing out Venus's permanent, stable global cloud deck, unlike Earth's transient clouds. (28:12, 36:03)

Recent analysis of samples from the Bennu asteroid by the Osiris-Rex mission revealed the presence of amino acids, nucleotide bases, and sugars—all fundamental chemical building blocks for proteins and DNA. This finding suggests that the 'kit' for life was widely distributed across young planets in our solar system and potentially elsewhere in the universe, though the assembly of these components into life is not an inevitable process.

Neil deGrasse Tyson introduces the Bennu findings, and Grinspoon explains that while proteins and RNA weren't found, all the necessary precursors were. He emphasizes that this implies widespread distribution of life's ingredients on young planets, but also that the progression to life requires specific environmental conditions. (42:51, 43:38)

The vision for space exploration has always been shaped by a blend of scientific ambition, political agendas, and popular culture. From Jules Verne's early predictions and the mass delusion of Mars's canals, to the propaganda films by Wernher von Braun and Walt Disney, and the inspiring narratives of Star Trek, public imagination and government funding have been deeply influenced by how space is portrayed and 'advertised.'

The discussion covers HG Wells, Jules Verne, Percival Lowell's Mars canals, and the resulting panic from Orson Welles's 'War of the Worlds' broadcast. Grinspoon mentions von Braun's collaborations with Walt Disney and Chesley Bonestell to popularize space. Neil deGrasse Tyson highlights NASA's political embedding across states, ensuring broad support. (3:01, 11:10, 15:02, 22:02, 40:48)