Ars Technica reports NASA’s DAVINCI and VERITAS launch targets

Ars Technica’s Stephen Clark reported on October 14, 2026 that NASA officials described DAVINCI as targeting a December 2030 launch and VERITAS as funded for a November 2032 launch. Jim Garvin said DAVINCI’s target was 54 weeks earlier than its previous plan; Dan Nunes put VERITAS’s arrival near mid-2033. Both dates are reported future targets for missions designed to study Venus in different ways.

What the schedule calls for

Garvin, DAVINCI’s principal investigator, described the revised launch target at a Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG) meeting the week before Clark’s report. Nunes, VERITAS’s deputy project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said the mission was funded for its November 2032 target. He also said VERITAS was expected to reach Venus near mid-2033, then enter an aerobraking phase before routine observations.

DAVINCI’s probe descent is planned for October 3, 2032. Clark reported that the descent should take about an hour, with the carrier spacecraft relaying data until the probe passes over the horizon. He also reported that a thermal test of a DAVINCI entry-probe prototype kept its internal components below 30°C, meeting requirements.

Two missions, two views of Venus

NASA’s DAVINCI mission page lists seven science instruments. During flybys, the spacecraft is designed to track cloud motion and map surface composition. Its probe will sample atmospheric chemistry, temperature, pressure and winds while imaging Alpha Regio, a mountainous region that may preserve some of Venus’s oldest surface material.

Ars Technica describes VERITAS as an orbiter designed to map Venus’s surface by radar. That gives the missions distinct vantage points: DAVINCI combines atmospheric measurements and flyby observations, while VERITAS is planned to map the surface from orbit.

NASA Goddard’s explainer introduces DAVINCI’s spacecraft-and-probe design and planned flybys and descent. Its broad early-2030s schedule description predates the more specific targets reported in October 2026.