Inside Sir Peter Beck and Rocket Lab’s sub-$17 million mission to find life above Venus

Sir Peter Beck says the price tag for his mission to try and find life in the clouds above Venus could cost less than $17 million.
Composite image / NZ Herald

“It’s definitely a mission that is near and dear to my heart. I think it’s important to try and answer that question [whether there’s life on Venus].”

Space agencies, including Nasa, have previously launched about 30 missions to Venus, including attempts to find life in its atmosphere.

Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system, with a surface temperature of about 464C.

Previous studies, including one in 2023, showed the planet is probably volcanically active, venting gases that could support potential biological growth in the clouds above it.

Beck said given the conditions, it was possible “that life could possibly exist” in those clouds.

Rocket Lab founder and boss Sir Peter Beck has spoken of the likely cost and logistics of the Venus Life Finder mission. Photo / Supplied

Once above Venus’ clouds, time will be of the essence for the probe that will be deployed during the Rocket Lab mission.

“We have about 210 seconds of sample time… to transit through that atmosphere to see if we can detect traces of life.”

Lift-off for VLF was previously planned for 2023, using Rocket Lab’s proven Electron rocket – a model that completed its 83rd successful lift-off last Friday.

But Beck said the timeline was delayed while the company got its next-generation Neutron rocket fully operational – a milestone expected later this year.

“By launching on a Neutron, we can take a much more kind of conservative approach to the spacecraft design,” he said.

An artist’s impression of the spacecraft that Rocket Lab will send to Venus. It will drop a probe into the planet’s atmosphere to support the search for life. Image / Supplied

“So, we’re trying to match it up [VLF deployment] with a Neutron flight. It’s driven by Neutron more than anything else.

“We have got quite a lot of hardware [for VLF] sitting on the shop floor.”

Given the money involved in space exploration, Beck said the cost of VLF is “pretty crazy cheap”.

“It’s still like sub-$US10 million ($16.8m),” he said.

Other past and planned trips to Venus’ atmosphere have topped hundreds of millions of dollars, requiring bigger rockets, bigger payloads and longer durations.

Rocket Lab’s mission to Venus looks set to be the world’s first private mission to the planet. Photo / Rocket Lab

Last year, Nasa engineers completed a fit check on the two halves of the probe that Rocket Lab will deploy above Venus.

It features a woven heat shield designed to withstand temperatures of up to 2482C.

Potential game-changer for low-cost space missions

Space experts have previously spoken of how they viewed VLF as a high-risk but high-reward mission.

Dr Paul Byrne, associate professor of Earth, environmental and planetary sciences at Washington University, last year said while he was hoping it would be a success, the mission came with significant risks.

They included other space agencies being wary of committing to other missions to Venus if it was not a success.

“I hope they pull it off for a variety of reasons: programmatic, technical, and scientific,” he told Supercluster.com, a website specialising in space technology and exploration reporting.

An artist render of Rocket Lab’s Electron (left), in service today, next to the Neutron (right) that it hopes to launch this year. Image / Supplied

“But if we lose contact with this probe, will the funding bodies behind it be willing to push on anyway? What is their appetite for risk?”

Meanwhile, the Planetary Society, the world’s largest non-profit space organisation, has said the mission could be a game-changer for research in the solar system.

“Although Nasa’s missions are more advanced, Rocket Lab’s Venus mission could strengthen support for low-cost space missions designed to answer specific science questions,” it said.

The Venus Life Finder mission is considered high-risk and high-reward. Photo / File

“The results could help other Venus missions refine what they’re looking for or even collect potential evidence of life beyond Earth.”

Earlier this month, Rocket Lab turned around its second successful launch in less than a week, from two different countries.

Last Friday saw it deploy a single commercial satellite to a 470km low Earth orbit for a confidential customer from its initial launch pad at Māhia, Hawke’s Bay.

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth (left) with Rocket Lab founder Sir Peter Beck.

Six days earlier it deployed a hypersonic test flight for America’s Department of War’s Defence Innovation Unit, with its Haste rocket from its second launch complex on Wallops Island, Virginia.

Late last year Rocket Lab won an $816m deal to build a new generation of missile-tracking satellite for the US Space Development Agency’s Tracking Layer Tranche 3 programme, part of the US military’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 34 years of newsroom experience.

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