Destination: Venus

ESA Space in Images Title Destination: Venus Released 09/11/2015 11:28 am Copyright ESA/VIRTIS-Venus Express/INAF-IAPS/LESIA-Obs. Paris/G. Piccioni Description - On 9 November 2005, 10 years ago today, ESA's Venus Express spacecraft left Earth and began its 153-day journey to Venus. The craft then spent eight years studying the planet in detail before the mission came to an end in December 2014. One of the mission aims was to observe the planet's atmosphere continuously over long periods in a bid to understand its dynamic behaviour. The atmosphere is the densest of all the terrestrial planets, and is composed almost entirely of carbon dioxide. The planet is also wrapped in a thick layer of cloud made mostly of sulphuric acid.