High-Level Project Summary
The general summary of our project is to develop an energy storage system that will power a lander or rover on the surface of Venus for at least 60 days and store energy for long space missions. We decided to use the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator as a power source and the polycrystalline fiber as thermal insulation and protection from chemicals. Our idea is important because it will enable landers or rovers to explore Venus for a long time and efficiently.
Link to Final Project
Link to Project "Demo"
Detailed Project Description
We have developed a battery that will power a space device on Venus for a long time. We suggested using heat-insulated RTG and polycrystalline fiber was used as heat insulation.
Our idea solves the challenge very well. Because:
PROS of RTG:
- long lifespan: more than 10 years (up to 30 years)
- has no influence from high and low temperatures, as well as pressure and vacuum
- reliable and safe power supply
- was created specifically for space missions
PROS of polycrystalline fiber:
- high temperature stability (up to 1200 degrees Celsius)
- chemical resistance
- high tensile strength
We hope to achieve the maximum duration of missions on Venus, given the characteristics of the planet and the materials selected for this mission.
Space Agency Data
https://rps.nasa.gov/power-and-thermal-systems/power-systems/
https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines/index.html
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/venus/overview/
Hackathon Journey
We believe that our experience using Space Apps is quite good, because thanks to this project we were able to realize our engineering skills. We learned to better understand space technologies and learned a lot of new and interesting things for ourselves. Also, they were able to not only have a fun and interesting time with the team, but also learn something useful.
We learned a lot about Venus, as well as about ryteg, polycrystalline fiber and their useful role in astronautics.
We are very interested in space and study at the Department of Space Engineering. We also really like to come up with something new and useful for the study of other planets. When we saw this project about Venus, we immediately understood that it was what we were looking for, so we decided to try our hand at it.
Our approach was quite simple. First, discuss the task itself. Then search for information about Venus, thereby finding out what conditions our accumulator must withstand. Next, we figured out which accumulator would be best suited for this task, and after that, what thermal insulation should be in order for it to withstand the high temperatures of Venus.
We didn't particularly have any failures, the only thing was that there were situations when this or that idea didn't fit, then we had to replace it with a new one. We solved the challenges using our own knowledge and the Internet.
Yes, we are very grateful to each other for the fact that we are such a friendly and organized team and not only coped with the task, but also had fun together.
References
https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/what-radioisotope-power-system
https://www.bjrs.org.br/revista/index.php/REVISTA/article/view/2015/958
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11214-019-0623-9
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPHS-RTG
Tags
#venus, #energy, #space