Russia and US planning joint mission Venus

Russia and US planning historic joint mission to 'Earth's evil twin': Venus mission will examine clouds for signs of life

Venera-D would send an orbiter to study Venus from for at least three years

Lander that will operate for a few hours on the planet's surface

Could set up ground stations to send back data

Liftoff in 2025 or 2026 is possible under an 'aggressive' time line

Published: 16:55 EST, 19 January 2017 | Updated: 17:20 EST, 19 January 2017

It has been described as Earth's evil twin - with a similar mass but a toxic, acidic atmosphere.

Now Russia's space program and NASA are working together on a mission to the planet to try and uncover its mysteries - and look for signs of life.

Called Venera-D, the groundbreaking mission would send an orbiter to study Venus from above for at least three years, plus a lander that will operate for a few hours on the planet's surface.

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Called Venera-D, the groundbreaking mission would send an orbiter to study Venus from above for at least three years, plus a lander that will operate for a few hours on the planet's surface.

VENUS: EARTH'S EVIL TWIN

Venus is slightly smaller than Earth but has a similar mass.

It is the second closest planet to the sun at a distance of about 67 million miles (108 million kilometres), and takes around 225 days to orbit the sun.

One day on Venus lasts as long as 243 Earth days.

Its thick and toxic atmosphere is made up mostly of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, with clouds of sulphuric acid droplets.

It's believed that its atmosphere contributed to a runaway greenhouse effect that made the planet inhospitable.

The planet's extreme high temperatures of almost 480°C (900°F) make it seem an unlikely place for for life as we know it.

An international team of scientists tasked with deciding the main goals of the mission will deliver its final report to NASA and the Russian Academy of Sciences' Space Research Institute by the end of the month, David Senske, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. told Space.com.

'Is this the mission that's going to fly? No, but we're getting there,' Senske, the U.S. co-chair of this 'joint science-definition team,' told the site last month at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union, in San Francisco.

The project is being led by Russia, and has been under development for over a decade.

The Soviet Union, launched a number of probes to Venus from the early 1960s through the mid-1980s, as part of its Venera and Vega programs.

NASA became involved three years ago, when Russia asked if the U.S. space agency would be interested in collaborating, Senske added.

More meetings are planned, including a workshop this May that will inform decisions about the mission's scientific instruments, he added.

A series of Russian probes sent to the planet in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, known as the Venera spacecraft, were able to survive no more than a few hours on the surface. Shown are images from the Venera 9 (top) and Venera 10 (bottom) probes that landed on the surface

The mission is believed to be a 'showstopper' comparable efforts such as the Curiosity rover.

Other ideas on the drawing board include a handful of small, relatively simple ground stations that would gather surface data for a month and a solar-powered, uncrewed aerial vehicle that would ply the Venusian skies.

Northrop Grumman and partner L'Garde Inc. have been researching a concept vehicle called the Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform (VAMP) for several years.

Data gathered by the orbiter should help scientists better understand the composition, structure and dynamics of Venus' atmosphere.

Virginia-based aerospace company Northrop Grumman has unveiled its Venus plane, which they are entering into a Nasa competition for funding. Called the Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform (Vamp), artist's impression shown, it would have almost twice the wingspan of a Boeing 737

Within the fast-moving atmosphere scientists recently discovered a mysterious 'sideways smile' on its surface stretching 6,200 miles (10,000 km) across.

The stationary patch could be a giant wave caused by the gravity from mountains below, the first of its kind to be observed on the planet, according to a new study published today.

Scientists have discovered a mysterious stationary patch in Venus' atmosphere stretching 6,200 miles (10,000 km) across. The could be a wave caused by the gravity from mountains below, the first of its kind to be observed on the planet

THE BRIGHT PATCHES

It is thought the regions formed from a gravity wave moving through the atmosphere, like ripples in a pond.

'When a gravity wave propagates in an atmosphere, air parcels vertically oscillate by a balance of buoyancy and gravity forces,' lead author Makoto Taguchi told MailOnline.

It is believed the towering mountains on Venus are the key to creating these bows.

'Though the mechanism is far different from that of the bows in the Venus atmosphere, the stationary thermal structure reminds me of stationary waves on a surface of a shallow river below which an invisible big stone on the bottom prevents smooth flow.'

The mysterious patch was captured by JAXA's Akatsuki spacecraft, as a bright spot in images.

Researchers from the Rikkyo University in Tokyo studied the bow-shaped patch, after it was spotted in December 2015.

'The bow is a pair of high and low temperature regions, of which amplitude is about 5km, extending from the northern high latitudes across the equator to the southern high latitudes with an end-to-end length of 10,000 km or longer,' lead author Makoto Taguchi told MailOnline.

The stationary bow of temperatures lasted between 7 and 11 December.

'The most surprising feature of the bow is that it stayed at almost same geographical position despite the background atmospheric super-rotation, the uniform westward wind of which the maximum speed is 100 metres/second at the cloud-top altitudes,' Taguchi said.

It is thought the regions formed from a gravity wave moving through the atmosphere, like ripples in a pond.

'When a gravity wave propagates in an atmosphere, air parcels vertically oscillate by a balance of buoyancy and gravity forces,' Taguchi said.

The mysterious patch was captured by JAXA's Akatsuki spacecraft, as a bright spot in images.Brightness temperature and UV brightness of the Venus' disk, pictured