EXPLORING THE VENUS CRUST AND LITHOSPHERE WITH THE VERITAS GRAVITY SCIENCE

Abstract

The Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography And Spectroscopy (VERITAS) mission [1] was selected under NASA’s Discovery program in June 2021. Along with DAVINCI and EnVision, the decade of Venus is now on the horizon. VERITAS will answer key questions related to the geologic and volcanic history of Venus and inform on the current structure of the interior, from crust to core [2]. This will address important gaps in our understanding of the diverging evolutionary paths taken by Earth and Venus over the courses of the past few billions of years. The interferometric radar VISAR [3] will map the planet morphology and topography at high resolution, well surpassing the Magellan datasets and bringing our knowledge of Venus in line with other terrestrial bodies (Moon, Mars, Mercury). The gravity science investigation will constrain the subsurface structure by measuring the gravity field to high resolution, as well as the deep interior through its lowdegree gravity and orientation dynamics. Here, we focus on the former, and particularly the cr