June 2021 marked a turning point for Venus exploration, with NASA and ESA selecting three new missions to the planet, scheduled for launch in the early 2030s. Moreover, other missions are in preparation, including Shukrayaan-1 (ISRO) and Venus Life Finder (Rocket Lab), along with the initial development of an atmospheric sample return mission by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. As we approach the ‘Decade of Venus’, many fundamental questions about the planet remain unanswered. Did Venus ever have an ocean? How and when did intense greenhouse conditions develop? How does its internal structure and dynamics compare to Earth's? And how can we reconstruct its geological history?
While fascinating in its own, Venus offers a unique window into the processes shaping other planets. In stark contrast to Earth, Venus is an inhospitable world, yet it serves as an important early-Earth analogue that may shed light on our planet’s history. Beyond the Solar System, Venus-like exoplanets are likely common, and many may already have been discovered orbiting other stars. More broadly, studying Venus can provide key insights into atmospheric evolution, interior dynamics, surface processes, and planetary habitability. This session aims to address the past, present, and future of Venus science and exploration, and what Venus can teach us about Earth as well as exo-Venus analogues. We invite contributions on a wide range of topics, including mission concepts, analyses of new and legacy observations, Earth-Venus comparisons, exoplanet observations, and the latest laboratory and modeling approaches to solving Venus' mysteries.