Present Status and Goals of the Japanese Venus Orbiter

Details Present Status and Goals of the Japanese Venus Orbiter Present Status and Goals of the Japanese Venus Orbiter

Dec 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003dps....35.4115n&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #35, #41.15; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 35, p.1489

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We have proposed a Venus orbiter, which will be launched in 2008 and arrive at Venus in 2009, to the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan, and the mission was officially approved. We will start the internal Phase B study at ISAS in the fiscal year of 2004. The orbiter will explore the Venus atmosphere with emphasis on the study of the general circulation. Although the rotation of Venus is slow with the period of 243 days, the stratosphere near the cloud top circles around the planet with the period of 4.7 days. The mechanism of this wind system, called the super-rotation, is unknown. The delay of the Venusian meteorological research is attributed to the lack of meteorological data within and below the clouds. The mission will bring about a breakthrough by utilizing the near-infrared windows (1.0, 1.74, 2.26, 2.32 microns) at which we can view the sub-cloud atmosphere from space. Successive high-resolution global images of the atmosphere at such near-infrared wavelengths will enable us to trace atmospheric motions at several discrete altitude levels. Cloud images at long-infrared (10 microns) and ultraviolet (290, 380 nm) wavelengths are also used for this purpose. Radio occultation will yield vertical temperature profiles which are complementary to the optical observations. The detection of lightning discharges by high-speed sampling will give clues to the convective activity in the cloud layer. With those comprehensive meteorological data, we will construct a three-dimensional view of atmospheric dynamics to investigate the mechanism of super-rotation, the structure of meridional circulation, meso-scale meteorology and cloud physics. Several other instruments to explore the plasma environment around Venus are also considered, although it is uncertain whether the necessary payload weight is available.

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