Born out of the winds of the imagination, an innovative new project to deliver a swarm of tiny spacecraft to investigate the dense atmosphere of Venus has just received an encouraging financial boost of $ 500,000 in funding from NASA.
According to a NASA press release, scientists at the Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI) have designed these tiny growth sensors, aptly named Lofted Environmental and Atmospheric Venus Sensors (LEAVES), which will be scattered to Venus. like cosmic kites, then transmit the data back to Earth.
Although the idea may seem a little far-fetched, the space agency believes that this concept could gain rewards due to the low and consumable nature of the mission when considering the hostile components of the upper and middle Venusian atmosphere and the absurd surface of the neighboring world. air pressure.
Researchers who presented LEAVES as a viable project explained that high-tech cars would fall from an orbital spacecraft and drift slightly down through dangerous clouds of sulfuric acid.
During their descent, each miniature sensor platform would detect any chemicals and compounds found and transmit this information back to the orbiting probe. Due to the dangerous crash of nine hours, this flight will end in their disappearance, caused by the decrease too small for significant data to be derived or, finally, the disintegration through the toxic levels of the planet carbonyl sulfide, hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide.
As described in the press release, “With a mass per unit of only 130 g, this concept is ideal as a secondary payload or enhancement for a mission oriented on the orbit of Venus and is able to obtain key data about the dynamic state and composition of Venus which is difficult to access by remote techniques. This Phase II effort will mature Phase I discoveries by engaging in high-fidelity aerothermal simulations of deployment, capture, and orbital flight, and will allow for practical demonstrations of improved communications approaches, tracking, and structural configurations. “
NASA funding will help Jeffrey Balcerski and his OAI team in Cleveland refine their “swarm” proposal and allow for the further development of technology pending the choice of a real mission to Venus in the near future in search of microbial life in the clouds poisonous.
This is part of NASA’s $ 5 million support for early-stage unorthodox presentations to help promote new approaches to space exploration, and is one of only seven studies selected by NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program.
“Creativity is the key to future space exploration, and promoting today’s revolutionary ideas, which may seem bizarre, will prepare us for new missions and new exploration approaches in the coming decades,” said Jim Reuter, associate director for the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). ) at NASA.