Scientists successfully launched a prototype of a 4,000-foot robotic balloon over the Nevada desert to test whether it could someday be sent on a space mission to roam the clouds of Venus.
The third decade of this century is called the “decade of the flower”. NASA and the European Space Agency have committed to finance three different scientific missions to visit the planet and study its surface and atmosphere. Rocket Lab and MIT hope to reach Earth’s closest neighbors even faster with the launch of the world’s first special mission next year.
It is difficult to try to get close to Venus in person. The surface temperature is around 475 degrees Celsius (around 900 degrees Fahrenheit) and an AAV could burn out. It would be wise to send an orbiter that can observe Venus from a distance, but cannot collect data up close.
A team led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Near Space Corporation, an Oregon airline, thinks robotic air balloons could work well.
They developed a prototype made up of several different layers to protect against Venus’ atmospheric sulfur compounds, cool the balloon, and protect internal equipment from the hostile atmosphere of the atmosphere. The first flight to test the airship’s capabilities over the Black Rock Desert in Nevada was successful.
“The pressure and temperature of Venus, where the balloon flies, are very similar to the surface of the Earth’s oceans, from 50 to 60 kilometers away,” said Paul Byrne, associate professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Washington University. of St. Louis. increase. description of the project in registration“So we were able to send balloon platforms out there and work for dozens of days, or even much longer than they land on the surface.”
Ideally, the robotic balloon would be sent with the orbiter and both would work together. “Likewise, the types of scientific problems we can tackle from the atmosphere are different and complementary to those we can do from spacecraft in orbit,” she said.
The balloon is described as a “balloon within a balloon”, with a solid helium balloon inside that can be deflated and stretched, allowing pressure to be increased or decreased. To fly higher, the inner balloon inflates the helium gas in the outer balloon, making the whole device more powerful. To fly down, the outer balloon injects helium into the inner balloon, which deflates and falls.
“These tests showed that the balloon can be directed to change height through the helium reservoir within the balloon envelope, which is what we want the flower balloon to do independently,” Byrne said. “This is the biggest mechanical feature we wanted to test, but we’re comparing real-world flight telemetry with model predictions, which we will use to plan realistic balloon flights over Venus.”
The team is working on augmenting the prototype. The final design would be three times larger, 12 meters in diameter and probably no more than 1,000 kilograms in weight.
NASA, which is leading the development of the balloon, said: “We are very satisfied with the performance of the prototype. It was launched, demonstrated altitude-controlled maneuverability, and was restored to good condition after two flights. “In JPL in. Statement.” We have a lot of data recorded from these flights and are looking forward to using it to improve our simulations. before exploring our sister planets. “
The ultimate goal is to send an entire atmospheric robot that can descend into the clouds of Venus, ride the planet’s winds from east to west, and stay afloat for at least 100 days. It will carry various instruments that can detect earthquakes, analyze the chemical composition of their atmosphere and see the surface of the planets.
Byrne believes future missions will help scientists answer fundamental questions about the formation and life of our solar system. “How planets form, how they gain and lose atmospheres and what we can work on on Venus to keep it habitable (or uninhabitable). There are some big questions about the only Earth-sized world in the solar system, the world that appears to be next door. “
If the robot’s balloon is to fly to Venus someday, NASA will have to continue funding the project, send the device into space, and choose a proposal that demonstrates how to use it in space. “I’m expecting a call for an upcoming assignment at the end of next year, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed,” she said. ®
