China’s courageous cloud sample mission for Venus

In the next ten years, some time, the purpose of a Chinese mission is to do what has never been done before: collect cloud particles from Venus and take them home. But achieving that goal would mean that one of the most hostile environment in the solar system – the clouds of the planet are mainly made up of sulfuric acid drops.

When China unveiled Long -term roadmap The final decline for space science and exploration, its second phase (2028–2035) included an unprecedented Venus atmosphere sample withdrawal mission. As specific to Chinese space missions, some details were made public. But recently information presentation Chinese shared on social media gives us new insights into initial mission plans.

The slide suggests that the major scientific questions being targeted include the ability of life on Venus, the atmospheric development of the planet and the mystery of UV absorbers in its clouds. The mission will also carry a sample collection tool as well as in-Seitu atmospheric analysis tools. Search for life, in part, is due to interest generated by a controversial study published in Nature astronomyIn 2020 it suggested that phosphine marks in the atmosphere of Venus may be a sign of a biological process.

Venus sample returns mission challenges

Sara seagarA professor on Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in 2022, led a team to keep a Venus environment sample sample returns mission proposal simultaneously. NASA did not choose the proposal, but its team has worked at work, including experiments with concentrated sulfuric acid. “Although our DNA cannot survive, we have started showing that (A) the increasing number of organic molecules, biomolecule, are stable. And so we are imagining that there can be life on Venus,” Cigar said. IEEE spectrum,

Objective Proposals Like MIT, a window is being offered in the difficult technical challenges facing the Chinese team. Going to Venus, entering your thick environment, collecting samples and returning to Venus Orbit at Waiting Orbiter to return to Earth, come with all various challenges. But potential scientific payment clearly makes these obstacles worth clearing.

The MIT team proposed a teflon-coated balloon that is capable of opposing the acid war that floats through the sky without propulsion and the need of fuel and mass.In contrast, China’s initial render reflects a winged vehicle, suggests that it is chasing a separate architectural path.

“It would be astonishing to get samples in hand to solve some large mysteries on Venus.” -Sara Seer, MIT

Rachna AggarwalA postdotoral associate in MIT says that a couple of main challenges are related to operations within the clouds. Navigating through a dense clouds, usually opaque for visible light. Although it is not important during the sample, know where you are required, when it comes to using rockets to return samples. There is a need to enter an exact class with rockets. “On Venus, we do not have GPS in clouds. The rocket cannot see stars or surface, and Venus does not have a magnetic field,” Aggarwal says. An answer to Venus must install a satellite navigation system, which combines additional launch and complexity, to help the mission.

A ascending vehicle will be required to bring the sample canister into orbit, which is in the classroom to do the doc with a waiting class. A two-step solid propalent rocket-Mars sample returns are similar to planned for mission architecture-what will be one of the simple options. But from a distance or autonomally operating, millions of kilometers from the Earth, under unknown conditions, will be accurate.

Says Aggarwal, “We do not know much about the atmosphere, so we do not know what the local conditions are. So it can be a very dynamic environment that the rocket has to launch,” called Agraval, the launch on Earth is often scrubbed due to high winds. Chinese scientists and engineers will need to answer all these questions to draw their own sample returns. It has already demonstrated success with its Chang -5 and 6 Lunar samples returns, ready to launch the adjacent asteroid sampling mission near Tianvan -2 in late this year, and is launching at the end of 2028 for its ambitious. Tianwen-3 Mars Sample Return MissionThese efforts will make the experience and technology education for Venus.

The proposed mission design of MIT will require a 22 -ton spacecraft with the final purpose of giving 10 grams of atmospheric samples on Earth. It is likely that Chinese design will offer a similar ratio. However, even such a relatively small amount of material can be revolutionary in our understanding of Venus and our solar system.

“I am super excited about this,” Sagar says. “Even if there is no life, we know that there is interesting biological chemistry, of course. And it would really be surprising to get samples in hand to resolve some large mysteries on Venus.”