Four Aspects of a Venus Balloon Mission Concept
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41st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2010) 1301.pdf FOUR ASPECTS OF A VENUS BALLOON MISSION CONCEPT. T.S. Balint, V.V. Kerzhanovich, J.L. Hall, K.H. Baines, S.K. Stephens, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, M/S 301-170U, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA, email: [email protected]. Introduction: As one of the terrestrial planets of days science phase, calculated from the upper and our solar system, Venus may hold the key to answering lower uncertainty bounds of the velocity conditions. It questions about planetary formation, processes, com- is expected that the actual balloon traverse will be be- position and evolution. Over the past decades US and tween these two extremes. Finally, the fourth aspect Russian missions explored Venus from both orbit [1] explores the challenges mission designers face, when and in situ [2][3]. ESA’s ongoing orbiter mission [4] selecting the appropriate materials for various parts of will soon be followed by a JAXA orbiter [5]. Still, to the in situ mission elements, in order to mitigate the advance our scientific understanding of Venus, a num- local conditions and extreme environments. Specifi- ber of missions are being proposed by all of these cally, typical materials are identified for the aeroshell, agencies, including concepts for orbiters [6], balloons parachutes, balloon, gondola, and instruments. [7][8], and landers [9], sometimes integrated into These four arbitrarily selected aspects of a balloon multi-element mission architectures [10][9][8]. mission concept can be rather involved, including Many of these concepts call for a cloud level su- complex subsequent steps with cross-referenced in- perpressure balloon [7][8][10], operating at a float alti- formation. To communicate the information efficiently tude of ~55 km, where the temperature and pressure and in a clear and concise manner, in this poster vari- conditions are Earth-like, 30ºC and 0.5 bar, respec- ous visual techniques of information design were used. tively. At this altitude the predominantly CO2 atmos- Acknowledgments: The visual design elements of phere is mixed with small amounts of sulfuric acid the poster were created as part of an Art Center at aerosols, noble gases, and other constituents. The wind Night (ACN), Information Design Course, at the Art in the superrotating atmosphere has strong zonal and Center College of Design, in Pasadena, CA. T. Balint meridional components, with respective mean veloci- wishes to thank the course instructor, Magda Gonzalez, ties of ~60 m/s and ~7.5 m/s. The cloud layer extends and his fellow students of the Fall 2009 Class for their from an altitude of ~45 km to ~70 km. creative feedbacks and critiques. An air mobility platform, in the form of a super- References: [1] NASA (1989) Magellan: The Un- pressure balloon, would explore this region of the at- veiling of Venus. JPL 400-345 3/89. [2] Kremnev R.S., mosphere for up to 30 days, while circumnavigating et al. (1987) VEGA Balloon System and Instrumenta- Venus multiple times on the zonal winds, while spiral- tion, Adv.SpaceRes., v.7, No.12, 307. [3] Fimmel, ing towards a pole driven by the meridional wind com- R.O., Colin L. and Burgess E. (1983) Pioneer-Venus. ponent. Due to our incomplete understanding of the NASA SP-461. [4] ESA (2009) Venus Express Mis- atmosphere, and model uncertainties, the number of sion. http://sci.esa.int/ [5] JAXA (2009) Venus Climate balloon passes around Venus could vary between 5 and Orbiter “Akatsuki” (Planet-C) http://www.jaxa.jp/ [6] 10, based on the VIRA [11] minimum and maximum Allen, M., et al. (1998) The VESPER Mission to Venus. velocity values at this altitude, where the zonal wind DPS Session 48P. [7] Balint, T.S. and Baines, K.H. component alone could vary from ~39 m/s to ~90 m/s. (2009). Mission Architecture Trades for an ASRG- In turn, this would result in a range of potential balloon Enabled Discovery-Class Balloon Mission, Poster: paths over the in situ mission phase. Regardless of this P8.01, ESLAB, Int. Conf. on Comp. Planetology: Ve- traversing uncertainty, any of the resulting paths are nus-Earth-Mars, ESA/ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Nether- found to be scientifically rewarding and exciting. lands, May 11-15. [8] E. Chassefière, et al., (2008). Cloud level superpressure balloon mission concepts European Venus Explorer: An in situ mission to Venus and related technologies are considered mature and using a balloon platform, Adv. in Space Res. [9] Za- straightforward. To demonstrate this, four aspects of a sova, L.V., et al., (2009) Mission Venera D (2016) typical Venus balloon mission concept are explored scientific goals and payload, Venera D Workshop, IKI through visual means. The first aspect explores a typi- 9/30-10/1. [10] Hall, J.L., et al., (2009). Venus Flag- cal mission architecture timeline, delivering the bal- ship Mission Study: Report of the Venus Science and loon element to Venus inside an aeroshell, on a carrier Technology Definition Team. NASA, JPL/CalTech. spacecraft; performing the Entry, Descent and Inflation NM0710851. April 17. [11] Seiff, A., et al. (1985). (EDI) sequence; followed by the 30 days science Models of the Structure of the Atmosphere of Venus phase. The second aspect illustrates the atmospheric from the Surface to 100 km altitude, In "The Venus EDI sequence in eight key steps. The third aspect pro- International Reference Atmosphere (VIRA). Adv. vides maps of the balloon’s traverse path during its 30 Space Res. v.5, No.11, p.3. .