"NASA's Venus Sample Return Mission: A New Frontier in Space Exploration"

NASA has selected a sample return mission to Venus as part of its NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. The proposed concept, developed by aerospace engineer Geoffrey Landis and his colleagues at the NASA Glenn Research Center, involves a solar-powered aircraft that would generate propellant from Venus' atmosphere and deploy a sample-return rover to the surface. This mission aims to explore Venus' middle atmosphere, potentially leading to significant scientific discoveries and paving the way for future planetary exploration beyond Venus and Mars.