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On 18 September 2025, the Akatsuki team transmitted the "termination of telecommunication" command to the spacecraft, thereby officially ending the operation of Akatsuki which has been and still is in the Venus' orbit since December 2015. ESA's Venus Express (in orbit from April 2006 till December 2014) and Akatsuki together had greatly advanced our knowledge about the Venusian atmosphere, with the focus of VEx being primarily chemistry and Akatsuki's focus being almost exclusively dynamics. The planetary science community in the world gained a strong momentum to further investigate Earth's twin sister: Two of the upcoming three Venus missions, NASA's VERITAS and ESA's EnVision, are more focused on the geology, interior and evolution of the solid body with the synthetic aperture radar and other tools. Another NASA mission DAVINCI will sense both the atmosphere and the surface by a descent probe. Other recent developments include the approval of the Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM) by the Indian government; the upgrade of Chinese VOICE mission to a Venus sample return mission, and announcement of the first private sector Venus mission, Venus Life Finder.
This momentum is driven by the analytical studies based on all previous Venus missions, numerical simulations (recently with data assimilation), ground-based observations, as well as laboratory experiments. This session will therefore cover all aspects of Venus science, derived observationally or theoretically, from its interior over the surface and atmosphere to the surrounding plasma environment and including possible implications for exoplanets. Contributions at all levels, from early-career researchers to experts, are all welcome.