  The Hesperos mission proposed in this paper is a mission to Venus to
investigate the interior structure and the current level of activity. The main
questions to be answered with this mission are whether Venus has an internal
structure and composition similar to Earth and if Venus is still tectonically
active. To do so the mission will consist of two elements: an orbiter to
investigate the interior and changes over longer periods of time and a balloon
floating at an altitude between 40 and 60\~km to investigate the composition of
the atmosphere. The mission will start with the deployment of the balloon which
will operate for about 25 days. During this time the orbiter acts as a relay
station for data communication with Earth. Once the balloon phase is finished
the orbiter will perform surface and gravity gradient mapping over the course
of 7 Venus days. This mission proposal is the result of the Alpbach Summer
School and the post-Alpbach week.
