Venus sample return. A hot topic

Author

Rodgers, David ; Gilmore, Martha ; Sweetser, Ted ; Cameron, Jonathon ; Chen, Gun-Shing ; Cutts, Jim ; Gershman, Robert ; Hall, Jeffrey L. ; Kerzhanovich, Viktor ; McRonald, Angus ; Nilsen, Erik ; Petrick, Walt ; Sauer, Carl ; Wilcox, Brian ; Yavrouian, An

Author_Institution

Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

Volume

7

fYear

2000

fDate

2000

Firstpage

473

Abstract

Within the Solar System, Venus presents a set of unique challenges to obtaining samples and returning them to Earth. High temperatures, a thick corrosive atmosphere and poorly characterized terrain are some obvious examples. Our only knowledge of the surface and atmosphere is from Radar images and the data from Soviet probes. A point design now exists for a single launch mission to return Venusian samples massing about 100 g. This paper discusses this mission, addressing the science return, how some of Venus´ attributes can be used to advantage and what technologies will be needed to make this mission a reality. It also explores possible future directions to make the mission more affordable

Keywords

Venus; planetary rovers; Venus sample return; space mission; Atmosphere; Bars; Earth; Extraterrestrial measurements; Planets; Probes; Radar imaging; Soil; Space vehicles; Venus;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Aerospace Conference Proceedings, 2000 IEEE

Conference_Location

Big Sky, MT

ISSN

1095-323X

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5846-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/AERO.2000.879315

Filename

879315