\nComposite image \/ NZ Herald<\/p>\n
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.
\nComposite image \/ NZ Herald<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a mission that is near and dear to my heart. I think it\u2019s important to try and answer that question [whether there\u2019s life on Venus].\u201d<\/p>\n
Space agencies, including Nasa, have previously launched about 30 missions to Venus, including attempts to find life in its atmosphere.<\/p>\n
Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system, with a surface temperature of about 464C.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Beck said given the conditions, it was possible \u201cthat life could possibly exist\u201d in those clouds.<\/p>\n
Rocket Lab founder and boss Sir Peter Beck has spoken of the likely cost and logistics of the Venus Life Finder mission. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Once above Venus\u2019 clouds, time will be of the essence for the probe that will be deployed during the Rocket Lab mission<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have about 210 seconds of sample time… to transit through that atmosphere to see if we can detect traces of life.\u201d<\/p>\n Lift-off for VLF was previously planned for 2023, using Rocket Lab\u2019s proven Electron rocket<\/a> \u2013 a model that completed its 83rd successful lift-off last Friday.<\/p>\n But Beck said the timeline was delayed while the company got its next-generation Neutron rocket fully operational \u2013 a milestone expected later this year.<\/p>\n \u201cBy launching on a Neutron, we can take a much more kind of conservative approach to the spacecraft design,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, we\u2019re trying to match it up [VLF deployment] with a Neutron flight. It\u2019s driven by Neutron more than anything else.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have got quite a lot of hardware [for VLF] sitting on the shop floor.\u201d<\/p>\n Given the money involved in space exploration, Beck said the cost of VLF is \u201cpretty crazy cheap\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s still like sub-$US10 million ($16.8m),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Other past and planned trips to Venus\u2019 atmosphere have topped hundreds of millions of dollars, requiring bigger rockets, bigger payloads and longer durations.<\/p>\n Last year, Nasa engineers completed a fit check on the two halves of the probe that Rocket Lab will deploy above Venus.<\/p>\n It features a woven heat shield designed to withstand temperatures of up to 2482C.<\/p>\n Potential game-changer for low-cost space missions<\/p>\n Space experts have previously spoken of how they viewed VLF as a high-risk but high-reward mission. <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n They included other space agencies being wary of committing to other missions to Venus if it was not a success.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope they pull it off for a variety of reasons: programmatic, technical, and scientific,\u201d he told Supercluster.com, a website specialising in space technology and exploration reporting.<\/p>\n \u201cBut 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?\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Planetary Society, the world\u2019s largest non-profit space organisation, has said the mission could be a game-changer for research in the solar system.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough Nasa\u2019s missions are more advanced, Rocket Lab\u2019s Venus mission could strengthen support for low-cost space missions designed to answer specific science questions,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe results could help other Venus missions refine what they\u2019re looking for or even collect potential evidence of life beyond Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Rocket Lab turned around its second successful launch in less than a week, from two different countries.<\/p>\n 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 M\u0101hia, Hawke\u2019s Bay.<\/p>\n Six days earlier it deployed a hypersonic test flight for America\u2019s Department of War\u2019s Defence Innovation Unit<\/a>, with its Haste rocket from its second launch complex on Wallops Island, Virginia.<\/p>\n Late last year Rocket Lab won an $816m deal to build a new generation of missile-tracking satellite for the US Space Development Agency\u2019s Tracking Layer Tranche 3 programme, part of the US military\u2019s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.<\/p>\nAn 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<\/p>\n
Rocket Lab’s mission to Venus looks set to be the world’s first private mission to the planet. Photo \/ Rocket Lab<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
The Venus Life Finder mission is considered high-risk and high-reward. Photo \/ File<\/p>\n
US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth (left) with Rocket Lab founder Sir Peter Beck.<\/p>\n