NASA's prototype Venus aerobot aces test flights over Nevada

A prototype Venus aerial robotic balloon that could one day take to the skies of Earth's sister planet recently completed two successful test flights over Nevada, demonstrating controlled altitude flight.

The test was carried out by a team of scientists and engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California and the Near Space Corporation in Tillamook, Oregon.

According to JPL, the concept envisions pairing a balloon with a Venus orbiter, the two working in tandem to study the planet. While the orbiter would remain far above the atmosphere, taking science measurements and serving as a communication relay, an aerial robotic balloon about 40 feet (12 meters) in diameter would travel into it.

The corrosive gases of Venus' surface can disable even the most robust spacecraft in a matter of hours, but its thick atmosphere is far more hospitable to robotic exploration. The prototype aerobot is designed to withstand the corrosive chemicals in the Venusian atmosphere.

During the tests, the balloon ascended more than 4,000 feet (1 kilometer) over Nevada's Black Rock Desert to a region of Earth's atmosphere that approximates the temperature and density the aerial robotic balloon or aerobot would experience about 180,000 feet (55 kilometers) above Venus.

the technology could also be used by high-altitude science balloons that need to control their altitude in Earth's skies, the researchers say.

The success of these test flights is a huge deal for us: We've successfully demonstrated the technology we'll need for investigating the clouds of Venus," said Paul Byrne, an associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis and aerobot science collaborator

Robotic exploration within the clouds of Venus? This concept was tested in the Nevada desert with an “aerobot,” or aerial robotic balloon, that could eventually help us better understand our sister planet’s thick and corrosive atmosphere. https://t.co/Rb0H7obNic pic.twitter.com/0f5pHoynfv

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) October 10, 2022