CLEVELAND – 16 Mar 11
USRP Intern Shifts Gears for Venus Flagship Mission
By: Heather L. Ogletree
Since 1961, there have been 40 attempted missions to Venus, Earth’s “sister” planet, by Russia and the United States. Out of those missions, only 24 were successful in the exploration of Venus with orbiters, probes, landers and balloons. Yet, from each mission, whether it was a success or a failure, space programs have gained valuable lessons about the challenges of exploration and the extreme environments of Venus.
With these crucial lessons in toe, Daniella Eriksson, a fall intern with the Undergraduate Student Research Project (USRP), joined NASA Mentor Geoffrey Bruder at Glenn Research Center in Cleveland to complete a 15 week project involving Venus Lander Mobility Power Mitigation,which was conducted in concurrence with the Venus Flagship Mission.
According to Bruder, “With the scarcity of the Plutonium–238 heat source, reducing power requirements by every means possible is paramount to the viability of the [Venus Flagship] mission. A study in utilizing natural resources available on Venus for mobility helps to identify appropriate mission power requirements.”
Eriksson was tasked by Bruder “to research the potential resources availablewithin the atmosphere of Venus” and to “design a mobility system to best utilize power provided by a dynamic power system for use on Venus.”
Eriksson explained, “My part of the project was a preliminary analysis of an alternative mobility system that eliminated the need for electric motors. It is important to cut down the power consumption, and engineers can use my project as a starting point to design a low power consuming mobility system for a Venus rover.”
In order to design such a mobility system, Eriksson took factors like Venus wind patterns into consideration, which initially presented a challenge. She said, “It turned out there was not enough data to make a predictable wind pattern that the rover could rely on for propulsion.” Therefore, Eriksson shifted gears and designed a backup system that would propel the rover in lieu of wind conditions.
She noted, “The rover design went through many changes throughout my internship because many ideas proved to be impractical, and I had to find a way around each obstacle that presented itself as the project progressed.... I learned to appreciate the amount of time and money spent on a project and why research is conducted in a certain way.”
The Venus Flagship Mission Study website, hosted by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, indicates that a successful study of Venus could “revolutionize our understanding of the climate of terrestrial planets, including the coupling between volcanism, tectonism, the interior, and the atmosphere; and the habitability of extrasolar terrestrial planets. It could also contribute to resolving the geologic history of Venus, including the existence of a past ocean.”
In translation, by studying a planet similar to Earth, we may find a way to better predict and prepare for the future of our planet.
Eriksson, an American citizen born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, has completed two consecutive Space Grant Projects in 2008 and 2009, conducted research with the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden and has taken part in a project with the Society of Women Engineers (SWE)in addition to pursuing a degree in Aerospace Engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz.