Venus Volcano Imaging and Climate Explorer (VOICE) was a proposed orbiter mission to Venus by China National Space Administration. According to the proposal, VOICE will study "Venusian volcanic and thermal evolution history, water and plate tectonics, internal structure and dynamics, climate evolution, possible habitable environment and life information in the clouds". The mission is part of the Tianwen program, and is expected to be launched in 2026, and arrive at Venus at 2027.[1][2]
VOICE will have three instruments: Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolSAR), Microwave Radiometric Sounder (MWRS) and Ultraviolet-Visible-Near Infrared Multi-Spectral Imager (UVN-MSI).[1]
The mission competed with 12 other missions under the Strategic Priority Program on Space Science III (SPP-III) for 2025-2030.[3][4] According to the National Space Science Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan (2024-2050), the mission was not selected for development. It was replaced by a Venus atmosphere sample return mission, but no details or timelines were announced.[5]
Missions are ordered by launch date. † indicates failure en route or before any data returned. ‡ indicates use of the planet as a gravity assist en route to another destination.
