First Plane to Fly through Venus

In a significant development in the field of Science & Technology a Virginia-based Global Aerospace company is planning to build a plane that will fly through Venus՚s atmosphere in 2021.

Project would see the plane cruise through sulfurous skies of Venus for years, sampling the acidic alien atmosphere directly and observe the Venusian surface from 50 kilometers up.

This is Image Show in Venus Plan

Mission Overview & Developments

  • NASA՚s new Frontiers planetary science competition, Northrop Grumman Corporation is developing the inflatable, propeller-powered aircraft for a years-long cruise in the skies of Venus.
  • The plane, that will have almost twice the wingspan of a Boeing 737, is part of the Venus mission concept called Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform (VAMP) .
  • It will sample the acidic alien atmosphere on Venus.
  • The firm aims for $ 1 billion of NASA funding to get its inflatable propeller aircraft off the ground.
  • Vamp would have a wingspan of 46 meters - almost twice the size of a Boeing 737 - with an estimated top speed of 220 kms an hour.
  • It would have almost twice the wingspan of a Boeing 737.
  • On board would be up to 200 kg worth of instruments such as cameras and atmospheric samplers.
  • It would be flown 50 - 70 km above the surface of Venus, in a region of the atmosphere where the pressure is roughly equal to that on the Earth.

Challenges

  • The plane would be carried to Venus by a spacecraft. The ground temperature on Venus - Earth՚s superheated sister planet - hovers around 460 degrees Celsius.
  • Surviving on the surface for any longer than four hours and getting high-resolution data is a challenge, Constantine Tsang from Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado was quoted as saying.
  • A series of Russian probes sent to the planet in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, known as the Venera spacecraft, were able to survive no more than a few hours on the surface.

Examrace Team at Aug 24, 2021