NASA's DAVINCI mission: Dime-sized sensor to uncover all the secrets of Venus; know how

Planned for launch no earlier than 2029, NASA's DAVINCI mission already has scientists preparing relentlessly to uncover the secrets of Venus. Short for Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging, the DAVINCI mission will be launched to Earth's sister planet to study its formation, evolution, and composition.

In a recent mission update, NASA revealed a new component of the DAVINCI probe, which will be dropped through the planet's thick clouds toward the surface. 

NASA introduces a dime-sized student-built sensor

According to the agency, an extremely important part of the probe would be a sensor that will be built by undergraduate and graduate students under the mission’s Student Collaboration Experiment. Named Venus Oxygen Fugacity (VfOx), it will be no bigger than the size of a button or a dime and will be located on the side of the DAVINCI Descent Sphere. NASA also shared a picture of the sensor's prototype which would help determine the chemical composition of Venus' surface.

How would the VfOx help?

To be completely designed, fabricated, tested, operated, and analyzed by the students, the VfOx will be used to identify the most stable minerals at the planet's surface and in the highlands and link the formation of rocks to their recent modification histories. Moreover, the sensor would also measure the amount of oxygen present near Venus' surface to determine facts about the reactions going on between the Venusian rocks and the atmosphere. NASA further says that measuring the balance in the Venus' atmospheric oxygen versus the oxygen in the rocks would reveal new information about the surface minerals of "tessera", a mountainous region on the planet that has never been visited by a spacecraft.

The plan is to make the sensor out of ceramic, a material that is resistant to temperature changes and would help the sensor survive the unforgiving atmosphere of Venus. The planet's atmosphere is so hot that it can even melt lead and it is 90 times denser than Earth's.

According to NASA, the measurements from VfOx would also help scientists characterise Venus-like exoplanets using the James Webb Space Telescope. "How much oxygen Venus has in its deepest atmosphere will help scientists studying these remote worlds distinguish between oxygen produced by life, such as what happens on Earth, from oxygen produced solely by abiotic chemical planetary processes, such as what happens on Venus", the agency said in a statement.

Since there is a significant amount of time before the mission enters the development stage, tap here to read more about it.