Venus might be feeling a bit neglected. The last dedicated mission to the planet wrapped up its work two years ago. A couple of spacecraft have scanned the planet since then, but Venus wasn’t their main target. They were using the planet’s gravity to fling them toward their intended targets.

But Venus exploration could tick up over the next few years. Several missions are being developed. Most of them are big and complicated, so they won’t be ready until the next decade. But a craft the size of a beachball could head for Venus as early as this summer. It’ll probe the planet’s clouds for signs of organic compounds – the chemistry of life.

Venus Life Finder is a project of Rocket Lab and MIT – the first commercially developed mission to the planet. It’s a small, blunt cone. When it arrives at Venus, it will plunge through the planet’s clouds, shining a laser on the way down. The reflected light will reveal details about the cloud particles. Bits of organic matter might be set aglow.

Some recent observations have hinted that the clouds could contain microscopic life. Life Finder won’t actually search for life, but it could tell us if the building blocks of life lurk inside the planet’s clouds.

Venus is the “evening star.” It’s sneaking up on the star Elnath, at the tip of one of the horns of the bull. Tonight, the star is a little to the upper right of Venus. The planet will slip past it during the week.

Script by Damond Benningfield