AVIOnauci

Rzeszow | Exploring Venus Together

EXPLORING VENUS TOGETHER

High-Level Project Summary

The aim of the project was to obtain energy, create a storage and charging station to power vehicles, operating on hostile environment of Venus in which traditional Earth solutions do not work. Our main idea is based on mechanical energy storage powered by a hybrid source solution which turns flaws of Venus atmospheric conditions into advantages. It is crucial to have such an invention so as to be able to perform long duration missions on its surface and explore our twin planet Venus what has not been possible before.

Link to Final Project

https://github.com/dawinq/HakatonNASA?fbclid=IwAR0Z6zYQMQxdz2kMeRagoxjSooa9Kveh2QylDhyxAuLKUxn_S4RRY40Tha0

Link to Project "Demo"

https://www.figma.com/file/PJM1WDRPHX3VBUEm1OqkG1/TURBOREACTINE?node-id=0%3A1

Detailed Project Description

A power plant assembly in a shape of ballistic missile launched from a spacecraft is being anchored on the surface of Venus. Swarm of these assemblies provides redundancy of elements which lowers the risk of whole system failure and increases the area of exploration. Once anchored to the surface, the assembly retracts solar panels placed on a vertical wind turbine, but its type is yet to be decided based on the future experiments. The value of the generated power will be determined by the type of chosen turbine. The materials from which the assembly should be made must be resistant to various properties (high temperature, high pressure, high concentration of sulfuric acid). Candidates for use may be titanium, 316 stainless steel or nickel alloys (these are materials used in critical parts of jet engines where high temperature and high pressure are also present). The body of Venera 7 probe which was sent to Venus in 1970 was also made of titanium and managed to withstand Venus conditions. The electricity generated from solar panels and wind turbine drives the motor to spin up the flywheel, which is an energy storage. External vehicles working on Venus can connect to the assembly by using the port located on the surface of the charging station. The distribution of the power plants on the surface of the planet indicates the area which is being explored. There is also LEO which communicates with each of power plant so as to check its charge status and help navigate the exploratory rover safely. There is a risk though connected with this feature due to atmospheric density, so it is necessary to perform energy balance radio-link research. It can also provide the information about the weather conditions thus ensuring the safety of the mission. Based on the fact that Venus is almost entirely covered with basalt it is necessary to pay special attention to the possibility of our assembly crushing when anchoring in the surface. Therefore it is crucial to perform in-field tests which will result in finding a safety system solutions. For example the solution could be filling the empty spaces inside the power plant body with a non-Newtonian liquid.

Main benefit is extending the time of missions being performed on the surface of the planet. Another advantage of the power plant is hybrid generating of the power in various weather and atmospheric conditions, it can work either at night or day.

Tools: Fusion360 - creation of the 2D and 3D model of the power plant.

Figma - to prepare presentation materials.

All remaining data was provided by the NASA or found on the internet.

Space Agency Data

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24381363_Solar_Powered_Flight_on_Venus

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/1519/venus-resources/?page=0&per_page=40&order=created_at+desc&search=&tags=Venus&category=324

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/549/energy-storage-technologies-for-future-planetary-science-missions/

https://techport.nasa.gov/view/92914

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/automaton-rover-for-extreme-environments-aree/

https://www.nasa.gov/exploring-hell-venus-rover-challenge/

https://2019.spaceappschallenge.org/challenges/planets-near-and-far/memory-maker/details

https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/venusfact.html?fbclid=IwAR3-oXSA9IrJLwTOXU-dd5rIn669s3fWmWe05WVW5boTGya6w0zCsUuliww

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032107000111?via%3Dihub&fbclid=IwAR1LeEVTdiBZ8fUR8_-NPXOO985gQWBX9anBlBcvP2L1l3T_yYxA8quGJQM

https://grabcad.com/library/ku-band-parabolic-dish-1?fbclid=IwAR1nAHcbwih3RS8EXltZX6hd6s2XaHp16CahqlXO7kuSWLJ5HhP68CufMNk

https://grabcad.com/library/rock-photoscanned-1?fbclid=IwAR1Ky-EKUlKbwr1j5IKixItFMFNWmsM4LYZ2uKxfPUsWUiFZLk_Q2hl44fQ

Hackathon Journey

Our Space Apps experience was very challenging but at the same time satisfying. We have learned not only about the Venus itself but also the obstacles one encounters when trying to conquer the space. Our universe is still mysterious to us despite all new technology we now posses. Scientists have still a lot of issues which are a barrier to explore our neighboring planets and space. Our main inspiration in choosing this topic was the problematic nature of exploring our twin planet - Venus. We kicked off with a brainstorm as we were very eager to use our knowledge gained during our academic journey. Our team comprises people of various discipline and background. We are not afraid of pausing and rethinking our way of approaching the problem, which has resulted in wider outlook and consideration of many possible risks of the invention. We would like to thank NASA for giving us the opportunity to take part in such an event, our local sponsors, mentors and organizers.

References