It could be just over a year before Rocket Lab launches a private interplanetary mission.
The Rocket Lab mission to Venus could launch as early as December 30, 2024, Christophe Mandy, chief systems engineer for interplanetary missions at the California-based company, said at a meeting of NASA’s Venus Exploration Analysis Group on October 30, SpaceNews reported.
SpaceNews later noted that the company added additional information stating that the mission’s launch window extends to 2025 and a launch date has yet to be determined.
Related: Here’s every successful Venus mission humanity has ever launched
The 695-pound (315-kilogram) Venus Life Finder spacecraft will launch atop a Rocket Lab Electron rocket ship. It will first enter low Earth orbit and then perform a series of burns to send it on a lunar flight and beyond into space for a journey of about a year and a half to Venus.
Once on Venus, the spacecraft will release a small probe that will descend into the planet’s atmosphere – where temperatures are much cooler than on the scorching surface – to see if conditions exist that could support life.
Rocket Lab first announced the mission in 2020aiming for a 2023 launch. The mission is being developed in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and will receive support from undisclosed philanthropists.
The mission builds on Rocket Lab’s lunar exploration experience through the CAPSTONE mission. MIT scientists have ideas for it too more ambitious future missions to Venus.
