Venus In situ Composition Investigations

Tessera terrain in the Maxwell Montes seen in white on the right of the image. Eastern edge of Lakshmi Planum seen in gray on the left.
Model of crustal plateau and tessera terrain formation via mantle downwelling after Gilmore (1998).

Venus In situ Composition Investigations (VICI) is a concept lander mission to Venus in order to answer long-standing questions about its origins and evolution, and provide new insights needed to understand terrestrial planet formation, evolution, and habitability.

VICI was one of 12 considerations for New Frontiers 4, but was not one of the two missions selected to be finalists in late 2017.