A Polish team will develop mechanisms resistant to extreme space conditions for the Envision mission, the first probe to study Venus’s surface, interior, and atmosphere.
The Envision mission aims to answer why Venus and Earth, twin planets of similar size and composition, evolved in drastically different ways.
The project is led by the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with NASA, with participation from ESA member states and a consortium of European companies, including Sener Polska.
The Polish engineers will be responsible for advanced space engineering in mechanics, verifying the durability of components under Venus’s harsh conditions.
The probe is scheduled for launch in November 2031. After reaching orbit, it will conduct four years of scientific operations. Research involving the Polish team will help explain how Venus, with conditions initially similar to Earth, became a planet with surface temperatures of 470 degrees Celsius and a dense, toxic atmosphere.
Sener Polska is designing and developing a 16-meter dipole antenna—composed of two booms—for the Subsurface Radar Sounder (SRS) created by Thales Alenia. The radar emits low-frequency radio waves that penetrate Venus’s surface, creating ground-penetrating radar profiles to reveal geological structures. It will map vertical ridges and lava tubes, identify buried craters and layers, and define boundaries between geological units.
The Polish team will oversee component production, assembly, integration, and testing of mechanisms that will explore Venus from its core to the upper atmosphere over four years.
“The mission could help discover what determines the origin of life. The scope of the probe’s operations puts high engineering requirements on us, but we are all the more pleased that our expertise has been recognised and that we can contribute to the mission,” said Beata Wiertel, quoted on the Sener Polska website.
(PAP)
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