Power system options for venus exploration missions: Past, present and future

Abstract

Venus, the second planet from the Sun, has always fascinated mankind. One of the reasons for this is that Venus can be seen particularly well shortly before sunrise or shortly after sunset, as it is the second-brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon. Venus is therefore commonly referred to as Morning/Evening Star. Venus is also considered as a sister planet of Earth, being the planet closest in distance and size to Earth. The dawn of space exploration has enabled mankind to switch from observation to active exploration also with Venus. Venus has been targeted bya multitude of primarily Soviet and American missions since the early 1960s; in addition, the first European and the first Japanese mission have been recently launched. Many of the early missions failed during launch, in Earth orbit, en route to Venus, or after reaching Venus. A considerable number of missions, however, was highly successful and contributed significantly to our current understanding of the planet and its highly interesting and challenging atmosphere.