New Venus commentary mission – World’s first long-term planetary cubesat examine by Korea’s Institute for Fundamental Science and NanoAvionics
by Workers and Businesses
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jun 04, 2025
Kongsberg NanoAvionics (NanoAvionics), a number one small satellite tv for pc bus producer and mission integrator, has been chosen by the Institute for Fundamental Science (IBS) in South Korea to construct the primary CubeSat for the world’s first long-term planetary science marketing campaign which is able to use a sequence of CubeSats to observe Venus from low Earth orbit.
This long-term Venus commentary initiative, the CLOVE challenge (Chasing the Lengthy-term Variability of Our Nearest Neighbor Planet Venus) has been a analysis challenge inside the IBS Planetary Atmospheres Group since 2022. Its first satellite tv for pc, CLOVESat-1, an 8U CubeSat bus to be designed and manufactured by NanoAvionics, is scheduled to launch in 2026. IBS plans to launch a brand new satellite tv for pc each three years over a 15-year interval to span no less than one full photo voltaic exercise cycle (11 years).
Beneath the contract, NanoAvionics will even combine the scientific payload offered by IBS, conduct environmental testing, prepare launch providers, and handle launch and early orbit operations (LEOP).
CLOVESat-1 will examine Venus’s atmospheric temporal variabilities of cloud high altitude, vertical construction of clouds, gaseous sulfur dioxide abundance, and mysterious unknown absorber(s).
LEE Yeon Joo, Chief Investigator of the Planetary Atmospheres Group at IBS, mentioned: “The payload for this mission was developed by way of a home partnership and displays South Korea’s rising capabilities in planetary science instrumentation. With the help of NanoAvionics and their flight-proven CubeSat platform, we’ll collect steady space-based knowledge that has been inaccessible by way of earlier missions. The findings will assist us higher perceive the evolving nature of the Venusian ambiance, its local weather, and the way it compares to Earth’s. We welcome collaboration for area exploration and knowledge evaluation, as we plan to make the information public.”
The primary CubeSat constructed by NanoAvionics will carry devices protecting ultraviolet to near-infrared at 4 chosen wavelengths and a complete of eight channels together with polarization filters, which is able to work in tandem with ground-based observatories.
Atle WOLLO, CEO of Kongsberg NanoAvionics, mentioned: “This mission displays a rising pattern in area science, the place small satellites play an more and more necessary position in complementing larger-scale missions. We have already seen this in multimessenger X-ray astronomy, the place NanoAvionics-built smallsats present priceless knowledge alongside flagship observatories, filling crucial observational gaps and offering extra knowledge factors and agility.
“With greater than 20 research-focused missions utilizing our satellite tv for pc buses to conduct all the pieces from materials analysis to Earth science and astrophysics, CLOVESat-1 will prolong our platform’s heritage into planetary analysis.”
The satellite tv for pc’s excessive temporal decision knowledge will assist researchers monitor elusive atmospheric modifications and, over 15 years, present priceless perception into Venus’s local weather evolution. These clues could assist scientists higher perceive volcanic exercise, solar-atmosphere interactions, and planetary local weather shifts-such as how a planet as soon as resembling Earth grew to become hostile to life.
Constant and long-term monitoring from follow-up CLOVESats is predicted to overlap the operative time with the upcoming NASA and ESA Venus missions, DAVINCI, VERITAS, and EnVision. The simultaneous observations by CLOVESats can present a cross-comparison reference of the planet’s time variable reflectance of the worldwide view, whereas the orbiters purchase excessive spatial decision knowledge.
Associated Hyperlinks
Institute for Fundamental Science
Venus Categorical Information and Venusian Science
