A team of scientists and engineers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in NASAHe successfully tested a smaller version of a balloon that would one day be able to fly across venus clouds. The prototype tested has a length of about 4 meters and was launched in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada, in the United States.
The prototype of a robotic air balloon (or just “aerobot”) is in short a balloon within a balloon. The interior contains helium at high pressure, and it is released into the outer, more flexible balloon, inflated and taken off. When descending, the reverse process occurs: helium is injected back into the inner balloon, causing the outer balloon to shrink.
Paul Byrne, a planetary scientist at the University of Washington, celebrated the good results of the test. “We have successfully demonstrated the technology we will need to explore the clouds of Venus,” he said in a statement. If a mission is launched with a balloon of this type, the aerobot will reach the planet along with an orbiting spacecraft, which will conduct scientific studies and transmit data from the plane to Earth.
Meanwhile, this will float in the atmosphere of Venus, driven by strong winds there. “The winds of the region, from east to west, are very strong and consistent on Venus,” explained Jacob Ezraelewitz, principal investigator for flight tests. On planet Earth, the atmosphere undergoes a kind of “super spin”, causing it to spin from 60 m/s to 80 m/s compared to the surface.
He noted that “there is no hope of changing the direction of the airship, and the idea would be to simply let him follow the action.” The aerobot could fly through the clouds of Venus without propulsion, and its instruments would be powered by solar-generated power. panels. NASA has missions Da Vinci and Veritas In development to launch them to Venus, and since none of them contain robots, it’s possible we’ll still have to wait for the balloon to be launched to the planet, to study the clouds there.
source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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