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We reported before about a NIAC-funded project known as the Lofted Environment and Atmospheric Venues Sensors (LEAVES) mission to study Venus’ atmosphere. While the technology behind the idea is still under development, it has already inspired a team of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) undergraduates to develop a supporting satellite mission to launch and communicate with the leaves. Their paper, part of their B.S. Thesis, details how to use these new sensors and the challenges ahead.

As a refresher – the main unique selling point of LEAVES is that they are inexpensive ways to collect data about Venus’ atmosphere – at least from the height of about 100km down to 30km, where a lot of interesting atmospheric physics is taking place. They are designed without a propulsion system and, as such, glide down on their own accord, sending back data about the local pressure, temperature, atmospheric composition, and the probe’s orientation via an inertial measurement unit like those used on drones.

They aren’t intended to last long, but the short time they will be present in the atmosphere could provide insights into several outstanding questions about Venus, such as what compound is absorbing near-ultraviolet light in the upper atmosphere or the local carbon monoxide concentration. However, their distribution over the planetary surface is a critical part of any such effort – which is where the mission design from the team at WPI comes in.

Venus’ environment is harsh on technology, as Fraser discusses in this video.

Their mission design revolves around two spacecraft joined together for launch and approach to Venus but then breaking apart into wildly different orbits. One of them, Demeter, is responsible for launching the LEAVES. The other, Persephone, is named after Demeter’s daughter, whom Venus’ Greek equivalent had taken away to the underworld. It is left at a higher orbit and responsible for transmitting the data collected by the LEAVES back to Earth.

Demeter had two important design decisions—one was where to deploy the LEAVES, and the second was how to. The team came up with a deployment strategy of eight LEAVES every 20 meters of latitude the entire way around the planet, for a total of 144 probes. Importantly, these would be deployed on the day/night light to examine how the difference between day and night might play a role in the sulfur dioxide cycle on Venus. 

How to deploy them offered a different challenge – the team settled on 18 miniature housings, each attached to a small solid rocket booster using hydrazine. Demeter would orbit around the planet at an altitude of about 235km and would launch eight LEAVES every 20 degrees around the planet. Those LEAVES would descend through the atmosphere – some around the equator, some around the poles – and would deploy their glide form at about 150km from the surface. At around 100 km, they would start sending back data to Persephone, waiting overhead. After its deployment mission was complete, Demeter itself would deorbit and start burning up in Venus’ atmosphere.

Cosmic Voyages discusses the LEAVES project.
Credit – Cosmic Voyages YouTube Channel

Persephone has a much simpler job—it uses a rocket booster to reach a 2000km orbit and patiently waits until the LEAVES are deployed. It then uses a high-gain antenna to pick up signals from the LEAVES’ relatively weak communications systems and stores them on its local hard drive. Once all the data has been gathered, Persephone transmits it back to Earth.

All the components except one on both satellites have very high Technology Readiness Levels (TRL-9). The single exception is the deployment tubes for the LEAVES, which have an expected TRL of 1-2, meaning they would require more development and testing before being ready for prime time.

There is no deadline for that development and testing for now as LEAVES is still just a NIAC project and has not been selected for a mission opportunity to Venus. Given the increasing interest in exploring our sister planet, it seems likely that a similar mission will someday launch – and maybe some of the team that spent so much of their senior year working on this project will have a hand in working on the version that finally does make it there.

Learn More:
Baxter et al. – Design and Analysis of a SmallSat as a Communication Relay for Venus Atmospheric Probes
UT – Floating LEAVES Could Characterize Venus’s Atmosphere
UT – Atmosphere of Venus
UT – Venus has Clouds of Concentrated Sulfuric Acid, but Life Could Still Survive

Lead Image:
Mockup of the Demeter spacecraft, including the deployment tubes for the LEAVES.
Credit – Baxter et al.

The post How to Deploy and Talk To LEAVES on Venus appeared first on Universe Today.

The InSight Lander arrived on Mars in 2018 to study the planet’s interior. Its mission ended prematurely in December 2022 after its solar panels were covered in the planet’s ubiquitous dust. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured an image of InSight recently and will continue to do so as the Martian dust slowly and inexorably reclaims the lander.

NASA and the DLR sent the InSight lander to Mars to study the planet’s interior. Though the lander’s mole instrument wasn’t able to complete its work, the mission is still considered a success. It detected more than 1,000 Marsquakes, which helped scientists understand Mars’ crust, mantle, and core. It also measured the frequency of meteoroid impacts and uncovered some information on the planet’s thermal evolution.

While the mission was pronounced finished in December 2022, mission personnel continued listening for signals from InSight in case the wind cleared dust from its panels. That effort will also soon end.

Now, the 358-kilogram (789 lb) spacecraft sits in its final resting place in Elysium Planitia. Barring some hyper-futuristic, impossible-to-foresee archaeological rescue expedition, the lander will never move. It’s stranded there, waiting to be imaged repeatedly by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and its HiRISE camera.

However, perhaps unexpectedly, InSight still has more to offer. Researchers say that by monitoring the way dust collects on the lander and moves around it, they can learn about Mars’ ubiquitous dust. That will help researchers better understand the planet and prepare more thoroughly for future missions.

“It feels a little bittersweet to look at InSight now.”

Ingrid Daubar, InSight Science Team Member, Brown University This image was taken shortly before the end of the mission. It shows InSight’s landing spot and its SEIS instrument, covered with its protective windshield. Note the layer of dust accumulating on SEIS’s shield. Image Credit: NASA/JPL

“Even though we’re no longer hearing from InSight, it’s still teaching us about Mars,” said science team member Ingrid Daubar of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. “By monitoring how much dust collects on the surface — and how much gets vacuumed away by wind and dust devils — we learn more about the wind, dust cycle, and other processes that shape the planet.”

Martian dust is full of iron oxides, which give the planet its red appearance. It’s very fine and can be lifted high into the atmosphere during Mars’ global dust storms. It affects the planet’s weather and climate.

It’s a hazard for landers and rovers. InSight isn’t the only mission to succumb to it. Spirit and Opportunity also struggled with Martian dust before being defeated by it. Landers and rovers need to be protected from it. It can cover solar panels, rendering them ineffective. It can foul unprotected moving parts, contaminate science instruments, and cause problems with electronics and thermal control.

Martian dust is slightly magnetic due to its iron content, making it quite different from Earth dust. Scientists are concerned that its electrostatic properties might make it stick to surfaces and be difficult to remove. It could cling to some components in unanticipated ways.

There are unanswered questions about Mars’ dust. For instance, scientists don’t know exactly how it all formed or when. Are we seeing only ancient dust? Or is some of it newly created? Scientists aren’t certain how it becomes electrically charged during storms, whether it’s toxic and to what degree, or how exactly it’s transported around the planet during storms.

While monitoring InSight from space likely won’t answer all these questions, it can still teach scientists some things. One of the things they can observe is dust devil tracks. Back when the lander was still active, scientists matched MRO images of dust tracks near the lander with its wind data. They found that the whirling wind patterns that produce the dust devils subside in the winter and pick up again in the summer.

via GIPHY

InSight is also helping scientists understand how quickly surface craters can be obscured by dust. When the lander touched down in 2018, its retrorockets left marks on the surface akin to craters. By knowing exactly when they were created and watching from orbit as they’re obscured by dust, researchers can learn how quickly impact craters can be erased.

These HiRISE images from MRO show the InSight lander after it landed with obvious rocket blast marks (L). The blast marks are becoming obscured in the image on the right, taken in 2022. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

The people behind missions like InSight put a lot of time and energy into them. They’re not only career-defining; each mission advances our collective understanding of nature, including other planets in our Solar System. InSight ended because of dust, not because we had learned all we could from it. So even though watching it from orbit and learning what they can is somewhat satisfying, it no doubt reminds the mission personnel of what went left undiscovered.

“It feels a little bittersweet to look at InSight now. It was a successful mission that produced lots of great science. Of course, it would have been nice if it kept going forever, but we knew that wouldn’t happen,” Daubar said.

The post NASA is Keeping an Eye on InSight from Space appeared first on Universe Today.

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Scientists have invented compact wearable devices that deliver rich, expressive, and pleasant tactile sensations that go far beyond the buzzing vibrations of today's consumer devices.

Scientists have invented compact wearable devices that deliver rich, expressive, and pleasant tactile sensations that go far beyond the buzzing vibrations of today's consumer devices.

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Researchers have found a low-power, inexpensive way for large numbers of devices, such as machines in factories and equipment in labs, to share information by efficiently using signals at untapped high frequencies. The technology is an advanced version of a device that transmits data in a wireless system, commonly known as a tag.

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A team has gained new insights into lithium-sulphur pouch cells at the BAMline of BESSY II. A new picture emerges of processes that limit the performance and lifespan of this industrially relevant battery type.

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