The planet Venus is often called “Earth’s Twin” because of its similar size, but the truth could not be further from the truth. Unlike Earth, which is estimated to host billions of living creatures, Venus does not host life as we know it, at least not on it. This is because the surface of Venus not only experiences an average temperature of 464 degrees Celsius (867 degrees Fahrenheit), but also has pressures that are about 92 times that of Earth, or the equivalent of about one kilometer (3,000 feet) below sea level. These extreme surface conditions are why the longest flight in Venusian space is just over two hours.
Now, a team of researchers at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands may be one step closer to landing a long-duration spacecraft on Venus. In a study recently presented at the 57th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, they presented the concept of the KYTHERA mission, a proposed space that they think can live on the Venusian while doing science up to 200 Earth days, which is more than 80 percent of the length of one Venus day in 225 Earth days.
For this study, researchers discussed candidate landing sites, lander design, mission schedules, and science goals. For landing sites, the team chose Lakshmi Planum and Lada Terra, the former with reduced pressure and temperature conditions and the latter more interesting for science as they have the potential for volcanic eruptions and lava flows.
For the lander design, the team suggested using heat-cooled generators whose design closely mimics the Soviet Venera lander designs of the 1970s and 1980s. For power needs, KYTHERA will use radioisotopes, used on Voyager 1 & 2 (orbiters), Cassini-Huygens (orbiter/lander), New Horizons (orbiter), Curiosity (rover), and Perseverance (rover). The duration of the mission does not only require a 200-day mission, but the researchers propose to send KYTHERA to Venus sometime between 2035 and 2037. For scientific purposes, KYTHERA is designed to obtain atmospheric data during descent, as well as continuous environmental monitoring and geological analysis for a 200-day mission of seismospectroscopy and seismospectroscopy. The team says the equipment could be the same equipment as NASA’s upcoming DAVINCI mission, albeit modified for higher performance.
The study says, “Many of these objectives cannot be achieved by orbiter missions alone, highlighting the important role of a long-duration human in improving the understanding of Venus’ geology, atmosphere and evolution.” [Pressure/Temperature] Planetary Materials Laboratory. ”
As mentioned above, the longest mission to the surface of Venus lasted more than two hours and 127 minutes, which was achieved by the Soviet Venera 13 lander in March 1982. This was one of the 10 successful missions in the Venusian space that were conducted from 1970 to 1985, with nine of them from the Soviet Union and one from the Soviet Union. While Venera 13 continues to be the longest surface mission, many other missions have lasted under one hour, including America’s.
The study comes as more work is being developed from NASA, the European Space Agency, the Indian Space Research Organization, the UAE Space Agency, and even the private company Rocket Lab. However, these missions are all flybys, orbiters, or atmospheric probes, and are not designed for surface operations.
How can KYTHERA help advance Venusian activity in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and that’s why we’re science!
As always, keep up the science and stay tuned!
#KYTHERA #Mission #Concept #Procures #200Day #Mission #Venus