We live on Earth, right?

The ocean world, trees, you know, condominiums.

The closest planet next door is the planet known as Venus, the morning star very often in literature.

We can see her. She's the second brightest thing in the sky other than the moon.

It gives you a sense that we're not alone in our little solar system. So what is Venus?

Venus ought to be a lot like us. She's in just the right neighborhood. And yet she isn't.

So something changed. Understanding that is important, understanding our own destiny,

because as we look beyond our

solar system and start to see worlds that we hope are like us, they may be more like Venus. And so

that may tell us about how planets change their life histories. So we need Venus as a clue to our

destiny and to read the records beyond our solar system.

This is NASA's curious universe.

Our universe is a wild and wonderful place.

I'm Patty Boyd, and in this podcast, NASA is your tour guide.

Venus is the second planet from the sun in our solar system.

It's sometimes called Earth's twin, because it's similar in size and density.

But it's currently far too hot on its surface

to support life as we know it, or liquid water. In fact, Venus is the hottest planet in our solar

system, with a thick, toxic atmosphere. And while those characteristics mean it's an unlikely

candidate for life now, scientists think

Venus might have been a lot more like Earth many, many years ago.

In an exhilarating announcement earlier this year, two NASA missions were selected to fly to Venus in the next decade called Da Vinci and Veritas.

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