The VERITAS Gravity Science Investigation: Gravity, Rotation, Tides, and Interior Structure

VERITAS, the upcoming NASA Discovery mission to Venus, will be the first probe to investigate Venus’s surface processes and interior structure since the Magellan mission concluded in 1994. Among its investigations, VERITAS will conduct a Gravity Science investigation, key to advance our understanding of Earth’s twin planet. The dual X/Ka-band tracking system, capable of Doppler accuracy of about 18 𝜇m/s at 10s integration time, enables a gravity field of Venus with a resolution of <106km globally with <4 mGal RMS accuracy. Moreover, VERITAS will measure the tidal response and moment of inertia of the planet, providing an unprecedented insight on the interior structure of Venus. In this work we present the latest numerical simulations of the gravity recovery and their implications for the characterization of the interior structure and ongoing surface processes of Venus.