Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Jan 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002iaf..confe.711l&link_type=abstract
IAF abstracts, 34th COSPAR Scientific Assembly, The Second World Space Congress, held 10-19 October, 2002 in Houston, TX, USA.,
Mathematics
Logic
Scientific paper
much easier than on planets such as Mars. Above the clouds, solar energy is available in abundance on Venus. Venus has a solar flux of 2600 W/m2, compared to Earth's 1370 W/m2. The solar intensity is 20 to 50% of the exoatmospheric intensity (depending on wavelength) at the bottom of the cloud layer at 50 km, and increases to nearly 95% of the exoatmospheric intensity at 65 km, the top of the main cloud layer, and the slow rotation of Venus allows an airplane to be designed for flight within continuous sunlight, eliminating the need for energy storage for nighttime flight. challenge for a Venus aircraft will be the fierce winds and caustic atmosphere. The wind reaches a speed of about 95m/s at the cloud top level, and in order to remain on the sunlit side of Venus, an exploration aircraft will have to be capable of sustained flight at or above the wind speed. desirable that the number of moving parts be minimized. Figure 1 shows a concept for a Venus airplane design that requires only two folds to fold the wing into an aeroshell, and no folds to deploy the tail. Because of the design constraint that the two- fold wing is to fit into a small aeroshell, the wing area is maximum at extremely low aspect ratio, and higher aspect ratios can be achieved only by reducing the wing area. To fit the circular aeroshell, the resulting design trade-off increases wing area by accepting the design compromise of an extremely short tail moment and small tail area (stabilizer area 9% of wing area). In terms of flight behavior, the aircraft is essentially a flying wing design with the addition of a small control surface. A more conventional aircraft design can be made by folding or telescoping the tail boom as well as the wing. Typical flight altitudes for analysis were 65 to 75 km above the surface. For exploration of lower altitudes, it is feasible to glide down to low altitudes for periods of several hours, accepting the fact that the airplane ground track will blow downwind, and then climb back to higher altitudes and fly upwind to the original point, allowing both high and low altitudes to be probed. Analysis of flight using battery storage shows that it is not feasible to keep the aircraft aloft on battery power alone during the passage across the night side of the planet. Likewise, the unpowered glide range of the aircraft is not high enough for it to glide around the night side of the planet and re-emerge into sunlight. Therefore, if the mission duration is to be unlimited, the mission is restricted to the daylight side of the planet, and to altitudes high enough that the aircraft can equal or exceed the wind speed. would be a powerful tool for exploration. By learning how Venus can be so similar to Earth, and yet so different, we will learn to better understand the climate and geological history of the Earth. The success of a prototype solar airplane could lead to the development of a fleet of solar-powered airplanes flying across the Venus cloud tops, taking simultaneous measurements to develop a "snapshot" of the climate across the face of the planet. Fleets of solar-powered aircraft could provide an architecture for efficient and low-cost comprehensive coverage for a variety of scientific missions, both atmospheric and geological science via surface imaging and radar. Exploratory planetary mapping and atmospheric sampling can lead to a greater understanding of the greenhouse effect not only on Venus but on Earth as well.
Colozza Anthony
Lamarre Christopher
Landis Geoffrey A.
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