South Korea’s state-backed Institute for Basic Science (IBS) has ordered a satellite designed to study Venus from low Earth orbit. It is planned to be launched next year.
On June 2, Lithuanian company NanoAvionics announced that it had signed a contract to build an 8U CubeSat satellite for the CLOVE mission. Its purpose is to study Venus. The vehicle will be equipped with ultraviolet sensors and near-infrared sensors designed to monitor the atmosphere of Venus.
A unique feature of the mission is that observations will be conducted from low Earth orbit (LEO). Thanks to this location, the CubeSat will be able to observe the planet during daylight hours for approximately half of its orbit. Another advantage is economic efficiency. The operation of small satellites in low Earth orbit does not involve the complexities and risks associated with planning interplanetary missions and does not require launch within a specific launch window.
In total, IBS plans to launch five CubeSats to study Venus. The first one will be sent into space as early as next year. In the future, new CLOVE satellites will be launched into orbit every three years. This will cover at least one full 11-year cycle of solar activity and collect data that could shed light on how the planet, often referred to as Earth’s “sister,” became a world that is completely hostile to us. This approach will also help minimize the effects of instrument aging, ensuring more consistent observations than would be possible with a single long-term mission.
Of course, a full-fledged interplanetary mission would be able to provide much more detailed data. However, three major projects to study Venus are currently in an uncertain status due to plans for drastic cuts to NASA’s budget. This refers to the American missions VERITAS and DAVINCI, as well as the European project EnVision, in which the aerospace administration also participated. In this situation, small missions such as CLOVE can help fill the gap in our knowledge of the second planet from the Sun and provide scientists with at least some information.
According to Spacenews
