Radio Sounding of the Venusian Atmosphere and Ionosphere with EnVision

Abstract : EnVision is a one of the final candidates for the M5 call of the Cosmic Vision program from ESA. It is dedicated to unravel some of the numerous open questions about Venus' past, current state and future. The Radio Science Experiment on EnVision will perform extensive studies of the gravitational field but also Radio Occultations to sense the Venus atmosphere and ionosphere at a high vertical resolution of only a few hundred metres. These radio occultations provide electron density profiles in the ionosphere and atmospheric density, temperature and pressure profiles in the upper troposphere and mesosphere. Additionally, they allow to study the H2SO4 absorption in the Venus cloud layer.