Future Venus Missions |
Future Venus Missions |
Jul 1 2005, 01:30 AM
Post
#1
|
|
Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10256 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
Oh well, might as well start that new topic since it's already well advanced in the Juno area...
My perspective on landers is as follows. All the landers we've had so far were dropped blind onto an essentially unknown surface. Any future landers can be targeted for specific terrains. It really is not true that we have had representative landings. Even a descent image or two, a panoramic photo plus a bit of surface composition, from a simple Venera-class lander just updated a bit, would be useful if we could put several down at well chosen targets. My choices would be: Examples of the main plains units (smooth, fractured, ridged) tesserae high elevation radar-bright tesserae large fresh lava flow unit ('fluctus') crater dark parabola crater ejecta outflow unit dunes area. And I have always assumed, rightly or wrongly, that it would be relatively easy to put these down, so they ought to be fairly inexpensive as planetary landers go. Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke Maps for download (free PDF: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...Cartography.pdf NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
|
|
Nov 20 2008, 08:35 PM
Post
#2
|
|
Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
The Venera landers did manage last about an hour on the surface.
I like to think that with all the improvements in instrumentation technology (and better luck), that a next generation lander could do great science even with only an hour of lifetime. -Mike -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
|
|
|
Nov 21 2008, 05:31 PM
Post
#3
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 718 Joined: 22-April 05 Member No.: 351 |
The Venera landers did manage last about an hour on the surface. I like to think that with all the improvements in instrumentation technology (and better luck), that a next generation lander could do great science even with only an hour of lifetime. The current lander plans seem to be counting on about an hour or two, so not much improvement there. However, there are a couple of ways of getting more science. First, you could grab samples, inflate a balloon, and do the analysis in the cool clouds. That is the official Venus lander goal for the New Frontiers Venus mission and I believe for the proposed Venus Flagship mission. However, it's recognized that that approach is expensive, so simply short lived landers are an acceptable alternative and were proposed for the first New Frontiers competition and are rumored to be proposed for the upcoming competition. The other possibility is to use remote laser sensing (both a la MSL and Raman) to target multiple features at the landing site without the difficult problems of bringing samples inside the craft. My hope is that a periscope could sit atop the lander. An on board camera would analyze images of the site, identify a variety of targets, and target the laser accordingly. I just posted a long discussion of possible New Frontiers Venus missions at http://futureplanets.blogspot.com/ that discusses these options and has links to proposed mission descriptions. -------------------- |
|
|
Dec 4 2008, 09:37 PM
Post
#4
|
|
Newbie Group: Members Posts: 1 Joined: 6-November 08 From: College Station, TX Member No.: 4479 |
The current lander plans seem to be counting on about an hour or two, so not much improvement there. However, there are a couple of ways of getting more science. First, you could grab samples, inflate a balloon, and do the analysis in the cool clouds. I'm definitely no expert on the surface composition of Venus, but I wonder if samples would undergo chemical changes when transported to a much cooler, lower pressure environment prior to analysis. Would any valuable science be lost this way? |
|
|
Dec 4 2008, 10:02 PM
Post
#5
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2173 Joined: 28-December 04 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 132 |
...I wonder if samples would undergo chemical changes when transported to a much cooler, lower pressure environment prior to analysis.... I expect the collection system would seal samples off from the external environment. The samples would probably be very small. |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 31st October 2024 - 11:23 PM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |