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Neutron | NZSA Venus Mission

NZSA Venus Mission

To Be Determined

Launch Details

Date: 31 Dec 2027, 12:00 am UTC

Rocket: Neutron

Provider: Rocket Lab

Mission

Type: Planetary Science

Orbit: Heliocentric N/A

Pad: Rocket Lab Launch Complex 3 (Launch Area 0 D), Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA

Mission Description

NZSA Venus Mission is a small direct Venus entry probe with a single 1 kg low-mass, low-cost autofluorescing nephelometer riding on a satellite bus based on the Photon Upper stage of the Electron rocket. The probe mission will spend approximately 5 minutes in the Venus cloud layers, 48-60 km above the surface, collecting in situ measurements to search for organic molecules in cloud particles and constrain particle composition.