But that hasn't stopped us. Over the last 60 years, more than 40 robot spacecraft have made the trip. Some flew past. Some orbited. A handful actually landed, although none of them lasted very long. And right now, scientists are getting ready for a brand new wave of Venus missions in the 2030s.
Here are the ones whose names you should know.
The First Missions β Reaching Venus for the First Time
In the 1960s, both NASA and the Soviet Union had a fierce rivalry to be the first to do anything in space. Venus, our nearest planetary neighbour, was an obvious target.
Venera 1 (Soviet Union, 1961) was the first spacecraft ever sent to another planet. It flew towards Venus, but its radio broke partway there, so it just zoomed silently past without ever phoning home. Not a great start, but a start.
Mariner 2 (NASA, 1962) is the one that gets the credit. It was the first spacecraft to successfully reach another planet and send useful data back. Mariner 2 didn't land or orbit, just zipped past Venus at about 35,000 km away, but it confirmed that Venus is unbelievably hot. Before Mariner 2, some scientists actually thought Venus might be a tropical paradise hidden under those clouds. Mariner 2 ended that hope forever.
The Soviet Venera Programme β Landing on Venus
If you want to know about landings, you need to know about Venera.
The Soviet Venera programme sent a stunning 16 missions to Venus between 1961 and 1984. Several of them did things no other space programme has ever managed.
Venera 7 (1970) became the first spacecraft to ever land on another planet. It dropped through Venus's atmosphere, hit the ground, and managed to send 23 minutes of data back before the heat broke it. That was the first time anyone had ever heard from another planet's surface.
Venera 9 (1975) went better still. It managed to take and send back the first ever photograph from another planet's surface. The image showed flat rocks, dim orange light, and not a great deal else, but it was the first proper view of what Venus's ground actually looks like.
Venera 13 (1982) holds the record for longest survival on Venus's surface: an impressive two hours and seven minutes. It also took colour photographs and analysed Venus's soil. After that the heat got it, like it gets everything.
To this day, the Venera landers are the only spacecraft that have ever successfully transmitted images from Venus's surface. That photograph from 1982 is still the most recent close-up surface photo of Venus we have. Yes, really. We've been to Mars dozens of times since, but nothing has photographed Venus's surface in over forty years.
Magellan β Mapping Venus from Above
NASA's Magellan mission (1990β1994) didn't try to land. It went into orbit and used radar to map Venus's surface from up high.
Why radar? Because Venus's clouds are so thick that you can't see the surface in normal light. Radar uses radio waves that pass straight through clouds, bounce off the ground, and come back. By measuring how long the bounces take, Magellan could "see" what the ground looked like.
By the end of its mission, Magellan had mapped 98% of Venus's surface. That map is still the best one we have today, more than thirty years later.
It also turned out to be way more useful than scientists expected. In 2023 and 2024, researchers went back through Magellan's old photos and noticed that some volcano vents had changed shape between visits. That was the first direct evidence that Venus has actively erupting volcanoes today. Not bad for a mission that ended in 1994.
Venus Express and Akatsuki β The Modern Era
In the 21st century, two more orbiters have studied Venus.
Venus Express (European Space Agency, 2006β2014) spent eight years orbiting the planet. It found evidence of fairly recent volcanic activity, mapped Venus's atmosphere in detail, and measured how Venus is slowly losing water to space.
Akatsuki (JAXA, the Japanese space agency, 2015βtoday) is still going. After a launch problem in 2010 nearly ruined it, JAXA cleverly recovered the mission and got it into Venus orbit five years late. Akatsuki specialises in studying Venus's weird super-fast cloud winds, and it's still sending data back today.
The Next Wave β Three New Missions for the 2030s
After about thirty years where Venus had been mostly ignored in favour of Mars, three new missions are now on the way.
DAVINCI (NASA) will be the first mission ever to drop a probe through Venus's atmosphere and "taste-test" the air all the way down to the surface. It will also take the first photographs of Venus's ridged tessera regions, which are thought to be billions of years old. DAVINCI is targeting a launch around late 2030 or 2031.
VERITAS (NASA) will orbit Venus and map the surface with radar much sharper than Magellan's. It's looking for clues about whether Venus had oceans long ago, and whether plate tectonics ever happened there. Currently aiming to launch around 2031.
EnVision (European Space Agency, with NASA help) will study Venus's surface, atmosphere and inside all at once. It's planned to launch in late 2031 and arrive at Venus around 2034.
There's also a planned mission from India's space agency called Shukrayaan, which would add a fifth orbiter to the busy 2030s lineup.
Scientists are calling this period the Decade of Venus. After a long quiet stretch, our sister planet is about to get more attention than it's had in fifty years.
Why Has Venus Been So Hard to Visit?
If Venus is so close to Earth (closer than Mars at its nearest), why don't we just send loads of missions there?
The answer is the surface conditions. Venus is a graveyard for spacecraft.
- The heat melts metals.
- The pressure crushes equipment.
- The acid clouds eat through materials.
- Radio signals can't easily get through the clouds, so spacecraft have to do their own work.
Building a robot tough enough to survive on Venus's surface for more than a couple of hours is one of the hardest engineering problems in space exploration. After Venera 13 in 1982, nobody has even tried again. The new wave of missions will mostly study Venus from orbit, or from inside the atmosphere, rather than landing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has anyone ever landed on Venus?
No human, ever. But several robot spacecraft have. The Soviet Venera 7 became the first spacecraft to ever land on another planet in 1970. Venera 13 holds the record for longest survival on Venus's surface, at two hours and seven minutes.
How many spacecraft have visited Venus?
More than 40, including flybys, orbiters and landers. The most famous are NASA's Mariner 2 and Magellan, the Soviet Venera programme, ESA's Venus Express, and Japan's Akatsuki.
Why has nobody landed on Venus since 1982?
Because Venus's surface is brutal. The 462 Β°C heat and 92x Earth's air pressure mean that even the toughest spacecraft only survive for an hour or two before being destroyed. Building a robot that can last longer is one of the biggest unsolved problems in space engineering.
What new Venus missions are planned?
Three big ones: NASA's DAVINCI (a probe through the atmosphere), NASA's VERITAS (a high-resolution radar orbiter), and ESA's EnVision (a multi-instrument orbiter). All three are aiming to launch in the early 2030s. India is also planning its own Venus orbiter called Shukrayaan.
Keep Exploring Venus
- Venus Facts for Kids β The Complete Guide
- Volcanoes on Venus
- Can Humans Live on Venus?
- Venus's Atmosphere β Acid Clouds and Crushing Pressure