ESA goes it alone on Venus mission after NASA pulls radar instrument

The European Space Agency is developing a European-built radar for its Envision orbiter after NASA indicated it cannot fulfill its commitment to supply the instrument. The mission, now delayed to 2032, will map Venus's surface at 10 times higher resolution than the 1990s Magellan mission. The shift reflects broader US budget constraints straining transatlantic space partnerships.

Bottom line — ESA's €367 million Envision spacecraft will now rely on a European radar after NASA's $50 million contribution was cut.

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• NASA and ESA signed a 2024 agreement for NASA to supply the VenSAR radar and Deep Space Network support, per Ars Technica; Europe was to build the spacecraft and other instruments and launch on Ariane 6.
• NASA's planetary science budget received $2.54 billion for 2026, about €220 million below the previous year, Straume-Lindner said at the Europlanet Science Congress.
• Industrial teams in the UK and Italy are studying radar designs under ESA contracts, with the goal of matching the original science requirements, according to eeNews Europe.
• ESA's science budget averages about €750 million per year, a fraction of NASA's, but member states committed to 3.5% annual increases through 2028, said ESA director Carole Mundell.
• The Trump administration proposed slashing NASA science funding nearly in half; Congress rejected most cuts but the shortfall is pressuring international partnerships, per Ars Technica.
• Beyond Envision, NASA's contributions to ESA's LISA gravitational-wave observatory and New Athena X-ray telescope are also under review, according to the report.
• ESA launched its first 50-50 joint science mission with China in 2024, the SMILE spacecraft, and a European instrument reached the Moon on China's Chang'e 6 mission, Mundell noted.

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