P050-13
Exploration and Meteorological Data Collection Of Venusian Atmosphere using CubeSat-based Solar Balloons
Friday, 11 December 2020: 06:06
Virtual
Tristan Schuler1, Kairav Kukkala2, Viru V. Vilvanathan2, Daniel C Bowman3, Alex Maxseiner4, Alessandra Babuscia5, Don Sofge6 and Jekan Thanga7, (1)University of Arizona, Aerospace Engineering, Tucson, AZ, United States, (2)University of Arizona, Tucson, United States, (3)Sandia National Laboratories, Geophysical Detection Programs, Albuquerque, NM, United States, (4)US Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC, DC, United States, (5)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (6)Naval Reserch Lab, Information Technology Division, Washington, DC, United States, (7)University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States
Abstract:
Solar Balloons are a simple and low-mass option for aerial exploration and meteorological data collection both terrestrially and on other planets. The latest advancements and miniaturization of electronics make it possible for solar balloons to be a sophisticated, low-cost platform to perform aerial science. Because the balloons use heated atmospheric air generated by absorbing IR and solar irradiation, they don’t require an external lifting gas. This allows the balloons to compress down to a very small payload size prior to deployment due to their extremely thin foldable envelope and small gondola. For planetary flights, these balloons packaged into CubeSats can piggyback on a larger mission and be deployed as a scientific ballast or a jettisoned mass during Entry,Decent and Landing. These balloons have the potential to operate independent science investigations and communicate directly with Earth through the Deep Space Network (DSN). Terrestrial flight experiments and initial models both confirm that solar balloons achieve buoyancy on Earth before hitting the ground when dropped from a high altitude.
On Earth, radiosondes are deployed daily to collect meteorological data at specific locations and are rarely recovered. Radiosonde’s could be replaced with controllable solar balloons and used for more than single use flights. Additionally, this same system can be used on Venus to record atmospheric data as well as help to better model atmospheric winds. Balloons on other planets are not new; the Vega Mission was successfully deployed on Venus by the Soviet Union in 1984 and since then, NASA has proposed a follow up balloon mission to Venus as well as possibly to Mars and Titan.
Venus’s cloud layer is one of our solar system’s great mysteries and balloons are an excellent, low-cost aerial vehicle candidate for exploration for an extended period of time. Recent studies have concluded that Venus may have had oceans in the past which could point to ancient habitability.Scientists also believe better understanding the Venusian atmosphere and cloud layer could explain some of these unsolved mysteries and potentially look for signs of life in the clouds. The upper altitudes on Venus have a mild temperature and have similar atmospheric properties to Earth; with Venus also being closer to the sun and having more solar irradiation than Earth, solar balloons are an excellent aerial vehicle candidate for Venus. By launching several flights later this fall with an array of external and internal sensors, we plan to improve the terrestrial mathematical solar balloon model on Earth to better understand and predict how solar balloons will perform on Venus.
