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In the coming decades, NASA and other space agencies hope to organize ambitious missions on other planets in our solar system. In addition to further exploring Mars and the Solar System outside, NASA intends to send a mission to Venus to learn about the planet's past. This includes studying the upper atmosphere of Venus to determine if the planet has ever had liquid water (and perhaps even life) on its surface.
To address this formidable challenge, NASA recently partnered with Black Swift Technologies – a Boulder-based company specializing in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) – to build a drone capable of surviving in the high atmosphere of Venus. It will not be an easy task, but if their designs are equal to the task, NASA will award the company a lucrative contract for a Venus aerial drone.
In recent years, NASA has renewed its interest in Venus. to climate models that have indicated that (just like Mars) may have had liquid water on its surface at the same time. It would probably have consisted of a shallow ocean that covered much of the planet's surface about 2 billion years ago, before the planet suffered an uncontrolled greenhouse effect that left the world warm. and infernal that she is today.
study – which included scientists from NASA's Ames Research Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory – said that there could be a microbial life in the cloud tops of Venus. As such, there is considerable motivation to send aerial platforms to Venus that would be able to study the peaks of Venus clouds and determine whether there are traces of organic life or indices of past surface waters of the planet. the co-founder of Black Swift Technologies, explained in an interview with the Daily Camera:
"They are looking for vehicles to explore just above the cloud layer: the pressure and temperatures are similar to those that we would find on Earth, so this might be a good environment to look for evidence of the upper atmosphere of Venus is incredibly strong, which creates a design challenge. "
To meet this challenge, the company intends to create a drone that will use these strong winds to maintain the machine while reducing the amount of electricity needed.Now, NASA has awarded an initial six-month contract to the company to design a drone and provided specifications on it. This contract included a $ 125,000 grant from the federal government's Small Business Innovation Research Program
This program is designed to encourage small businesses in Canada to undertake s federal research / development (R / D) that can be marketed. "The company hopes to use part of this grant to recruit more personnel and build a drone that NASA would be confident of sending to the upper atmosphere of Venus, where conditions are particularly difficult.
As Elston l & # 39, explained to Universe Today by email, these challenges represent an opportunity for innovation:
"Our project focuses on a unique aircraft and a method of recovering energy from the upper atmosphere of Venus that does not require additional sources of energy for propulsion. We hope that the strong convective storms on Earth will make a valuable contribution to the ongoing discussion on the best way to explore this turbulent environment and that the work we do will help improve the designs of our own aircraft and extend the life of our aircraft. time of observation. to observe everything from volcanic plumes to hurricanes.
At the end of the six-month period, Black Swift will present its concept to NASA for approval. "If they like what we have imagined, they will fund another two-year project to build prototypes," Elston said. "This second-phase contract should be worth $ 750,000."
This is not the first time that Black Swift has partnered with NASA to create unmanned aerial vehicles to study harsh environments. Last year, the company won a $ 875,000 contract to build a drone capable of monitoring temperature, gas levels, winds and pressure levels inside Costa Rica's volcanoes. . After a series of test flights, the drone is expected to be deployed to Hawaii, where it will study the geothermal activity that is taking place there.
If the BlackSwift concept for a Venus drone makes the cut, its aerial drone will join other mission concepts like the DAVINCI spacecraft, the Venus spacecraft, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography and Spectroscopy (VERITAS ), the Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform (VAMP), or the Venera-D mission in Russia – which is currently scheduled to explore Venus in the late 2020s.
A number of other concepts are studied to explore the surface of Venus to learn more about its geological history. These include a "Steampunk" rover (that is, badog) that would not rely on any electronic parts, or a vehicle that uses a stored energy and chemical energy system ( SCEPS) – aka. a Sterling engine – to conduct an in-situ exploration
All these missions aim to reach Venus and face its difficult conditions to determine if Earth-Planet of the Earth was once a more habitable planet and how it evolved. over time to become the hot and hellish place it is today.
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Picture: Venus cloudy
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