Venus is quite close to Earth, yet so radically different,” McCoy said. “Why is that?
ESA plans to keep the probe active for 500 days, with the possibility of extending its life by 500 more. The last mission to Venus was NASA’S Magellan probe, launched in 1989. It completed more than 15,000 orbits around the planet between 1990 and 1994. Using radar, Magellan was able to map almost all of Venus, revealing towering volcanoes, gigantic rifts and sharp-edged craters.
