Solar Powered Flight on Venus

TITLE AND SUBTITLE:
Solar Powered Flight on Venus

AUTHOR(S):
Anthony Colozza

REPORT DATE:
April 2004

FUNDING NUMBERS:
WBS-22-755-81-01
NAS3-00145

PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES):
Analex Corporation
3001 Aerospace Parkway
Brook Park, Ohio 44142

PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER:
E-14488

SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES):
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Washington, DC 20546-0001

REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED:
Final Contractor Report

SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY REPORT NUMBER:
NASA CR-2004-213052

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES:
Project Manager, Geoff Landis, Power and On-Board Propulsion Technology Division, NASA Glenn Research Center, organization code 5410, 216-433-2238.

ABSTRACT:
Solar powered flight within the Venus environment from the surface to the upper atmosphere was evaluated. The objective was to see if a station-keeping mission was possible within this environment based on a solar power generating system. Due to the slow rotation rate of Venus it would be possible to remain within the day light side of the planet for extended periods of time. However the high wind speeds and thick cloud cover make a station-keeping solar powered mission challenging. The environment of Venus was modeled as a function of altitude from the surface. This modeling included density, temperature, solar attenuation and wind speed. Using this environmental model flight with both airships and aircraft was considered to evaluate whether a station-keeping mission is feasible. The solar power system and flight characteristics of both types of vehicles was modeled and power balance was set up to determine if the power available from the solar array was sufficient to provide enough thrust to maintain station over a fixed ground location.

SUBJECT TERMS:
Venus atmosphere; Solar powered aircraft

NUMBER OF PAGES:
33

PDF AVAILABLE FROM URL:
2004/CR-2004-213052.pdf ( 668 KB )
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