The Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform (VAMP) air vehicle (AV) is an aeroshell-less hypersonic entry vehicle that transitions to a semi-buoyant, maneuverable, solar-powered air vehicle for flight in Venus' atmosphere. VAMP AV will be transported to Venus by a carrier/orbiter spacecraft. Once the spacecraft is safely in Venus' orbit, VAMP AV is deployed while still attached to the spacecraft. It is then released and enters the atmosphere, floating down toward the planet almost like a falling leaf. Once the AV is in the atmosphere and has completed the entry phase, it transitions to the flight phase of the mission.

During the flight phase, the AV flies in the Venus upper- and mid-cloud layers and collects science data for transmission to Earth. VAMP AV will be capable of orbiting the planet for a long duration — up to a year. The vehicle's ultra-low ballistic coefficient, atmospheric entry is performed without the aid of a heavy aeroshell, allowing it to hold about 100 pounds of instruments that will track clouds and atmosphere and send data back to Earth. VAMP is the first application of the Lifting Entry Atmospheric Flight (LEAF) family of vehicles designed as atmospheric rovers.