This proposed effort will integrate the various technologies associated with stratospheric balloon flight to provide a conceptual design of a planetary airship suitable for deployment and inflation in the Venus atmosphere. The system that is envisioned will make use of the results of many prior studies and experiments that have been reported in recent years. An airship envelope will be deployed and inflated while descending into the atmosphere. The payload, in this case, is a rocket system, which must be supported by a decelerator until the balloon is pressurized sufficiently to provide the envelope stiffness required. The shape of this balloon will be optimized for the particular environment anticipated. It will not be required to descend below 60 km and therefore, need not resist the extreme pressures and temperatures characteristic of the surface of Venus. The results of recent studies on the influence of shape on the stress response of inflatable structures will reduce the required strength. This will be reflected in a specification for an envelope material suitable for the Venus Surface Sample Return mission.
Potential Commercial Applications:The successful completion of this Phase I program will permit the definition of a very specific aerodynamic shape and mass distribution which is capable of maneuvering at altitude. At the conclusion of the Phase II program, the technology required to produce a lightweight composite material suitable for flight in hostile environments and the design procedures required for an aerodynamically shaped airship using such a material will have been developed. This airship will have the required power to maintain stationary flight over a fixed geographical area at the altitude of minimum winds. This allows the airship to have military uses for battlefield reconnaissance, and commercial uses in the telecommunications services organizations. A stationary platform like this could change the nature of the telecommunications, paging, cellular communications and every other means of information transfer in use today. This platform would also have the ability to take these technologies to third world countries where the current infrastructure is limited or nonexistent.
