Aerial Platform Design Options for a Life-Finding Mission at Venus
Mounting evidence of chemical disequilibria in the Venusian atmosphere has heightened interest in the search for life within the planet’s cloud decks. Balloon systems are currently considered to be the superior class of aerial platform for extended atmospheric sampling within the clouds, p...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
2022
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/143635 |
| _version_ | 1826192414011817984 |
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| author | Buchanan, Weston P. de Jong, Maxim Agrawal, Rachana Petkowski, Janusz J. Arora, Archit Saikia, Sarag J. Seager, Sara Longuski, James on behalf of the Venus Life Finder Mission Team, |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Buchanan, Weston P. de Jong, Maxim Agrawal, Rachana Petkowski, Janusz J. Arora, Archit Saikia, Sarag J. Seager, Sara Longuski, James on behalf of the Venus Life Finder Mission Team, |
| author_sort | Buchanan, Weston P. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Mounting evidence of chemical disequilibria in the Venusian atmosphere has heightened interest in the search for life within the planet’s cloud decks. Balloon systems are currently considered to be the superior class of aerial platform for extended atmospheric sampling within the clouds, providing the highest ratio of science return to risk. Balloon-based aerial platform designs depend heavily on payload mass and target altitudes. We present options for constant- and variable-altitude balloon systems designed to carry out science operations inside the Venusian cloud decks. The Venus Life Finder (VLF) mission study proposes a series of missions that require extended in situ analysis of Venus cloud material. We provide an overview of a representative mission architecture, as well as gondola designs to accommodate a VLF instrument suite. Current architecture asserts a launch date of 30 July 2026, which would place an orbiter and entry vehicle at Venus as early as November 29 of that same year. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:11:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/143635 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:11:34Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1436352024-05-15T09:55:49Z Aerial Platform Design Options for a Life-Finding Mission at Venus Buchanan, Weston P. de Jong, Maxim Agrawal, Rachana Petkowski, Janusz J. Arora, Archit Saikia, Sarag J. Seager, Sara Longuski, James on behalf of the Venus Life Finder Mission Team, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Mounting evidence of chemical disequilibria in the Venusian atmosphere has heightened interest in the search for life within the planet’s cloud decks. Balloon systems are currently considered to be the superior class of aerial platform for extended atmospheric sampling within the clouds, providing the highest ratio of science return to risk. Balloon-based aerial platform designs depend heavily on payload mass and target altitudes. We present options for constant- and variable-altitude balloon systems designed to carry out science operations inside the Venusian cloud decks. The Venus Life Finder (VLF) mission study proposes a series of missions that require extended in situ analysis of Venus cloud material. We provide an overview of a representative mission architecture, as well as gondola designs to accommodate a VLF instrument suite. Current architecture asserts a launch date of 30 July 2026, which would place an orbiter and entry vehicle at Venus as early as November 29 of that same year. 2022-07-11T14:31:09Z 2022-07-11T14:31:09Z 2022-07-07 2022-07-08T11:55:14Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/143635 Aerospace 9 (7): 363 (2022) PUBLISHER_CC http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/aerospace9070363 Creative Commons Attribution https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
| spellingShingle | Buchanan, Weston P. de Jong, Maxim Agrawal, Rachana Petkowski, Janusz J. Arora, Archit Saikia, Sarag J. Seager, Sara Longuski, James on behalf of the Venus Life Finder Mission Team, Aerial Platform Design Options for a Life-Finding Mission at Venus |
| title | Aerial Platform Design Options for a Life-Finding Mission at Venus |
| title_full | Aerial Platform Design Options for a Life-Finding Mission at Venus |
| title_fullStr | Aerial Platform Design Options for a Life-Finding Mission at Venus |
| title_full_unstemmed | Aerial Platform Design Options for a Life-Finding Mission at Venus |
| title_short | Aerial Platform Design Options for a Life-Finding Mission at Venus |
| title_sort | aerial platform design options for a life finding mission at venus |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/143635 |
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