Mars shot, Mars shot, Mars shot! That's all at times it seems we hear about.
Oh of course, exploring the Red Planet is nice. The pinnacle of that research to date, the Rover twins Spirit and Opportunity, continue to impress everyone (even the engineers that built them) with their steadfast duty to deliver priceless science. And if I'm not mistaken they're soon to overtake an important milestone: a full Martian year of service (which is some 687 days back here on Terra). It's a clear demonstration of human ingenuity (er, for the moment forgetting those probes that didn't quite make it!) that encourages us to build upon that work there but also attempt other challenges elsewhere.
Which brings me to Venus. Our fevered little sister planet - hotter than tiny Mercury that orbits almost twice as close to the sun - represents the ultimate "extreme" environment for future robot probes. Clouds of sulfuric acid race around the planet's surface buried beneath a high pressure ocean of carbon dioxide below. And with no tilt to its axis, Venus experiences no other seasons save an incessant and oppressive one. It rotates "backwards" compared to most of the rest of Sol's satellites, and at an unusually slow rate: Venus takes some eight months to perform a single rotation. Strangely enough, that's a little longer than the planet takes to make an orbit around the Sun!
It's been a long time - too long - since we've paid any sort of serious call on Venus. American and Russian probes began primitive (and often malfunctioning) visits in the early 1960's, with the Russians finally able to successfully land Venera 7 on the planet's surface. Following in that tradition, the European Space Agency is poised to launch the Venus Express. Largely based on the Mars Express system, the Venus Express probe plans for a 500 day mission, after taking a little under six months to get there.
Originally scheduled to launch today, Venus Express was discovered to contain small bits of insulation that had fallen off the spacecraft's fairings. Removing the probe from its booster rocket, fortunately tweezers and suction were able to clean it up sufficiently for another launch attempt. (During inspection the rest of the probe was determined to be in complete shipshape.) The launch window for the Express to Venus closes on 24 November, which is plenty of time to complete the clean-up and get it off the pad.
Venus is where our planetary explorations began. God willing soon we'll be on our way back!