Colin Wilson

Abstract:

© Copyright 2017 by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). All rights reserved. Measurements in the atmosphere and at the surface of Venus are required to understand fundamental processes of how terrestrial planets evolve and how they work today. While the European Venus community is unified in its support of the EnVision orbiter proposal as the next step in European Venus exploration, many scientific questions also require in situ Venus exploration. We suggest a long-duration lander at Venus, which would be capable of undertaking a seismometry mission, operating in the 460°C surface conditions of Venus. Radar maps have shown Venus to be covered with volcanic and tectonic features, and mounting evidence, including observations from Venus Express, suggests that some of these volcanoes are active today. Assessing Venus' current seismicity, and measuring its interior structure, is essential if we are to establish the geological history of our twin planet, for example to establish whether it ever had a habitable phase with liquid water oceans. Although some constraints on seismic activity can be obtained from orbit, using radar or ionospheric observation, the most productive way to study planetary interiors is through seismometry. Seismometry requires a mission duration of months or (preferably) years. Previous landers have used passive cooling, relying on thermal insulation and the lander's thermal inertia to provide a brief window of time in which to conduct science operations - but this allows mission durations of hours, not months. Proposals relying on silicon electronics require an electronics enclosure cooled to < 200 °C; the insulation, cooling and power system requirements escalate rapidly to require a > 1 ton, > €1bn class mission, such as those studied in the context of NASA flagship missions. However, there are alternatives to silicon electronics: in particular, there have been promising advances in silicon carbide (SiC) electronics capable of operating at temperatures of 500°C. Within the coming decade it will be possible to assemble at least simple circuits using SiC components, sufficient to run a seismometry lander. We are proposing a Venus Long-Lived Surface Package (VL2SP) consisting of power source (RTG), science payload (seismometer and meteorology sensors), and ambient temperature electronics including a telecommunications system weighing < 100 kg. We do not specify how this VL2SP gets to the surface of Venus, but we estimate that an orbiter providing data relay would be essential. This presentation is based on a response sumitted to ESA's Call for New Scientific Ideas in September 2016.

Abstract:

The Venus International Reference Atmosphere (VIRA) model contains tabulated values of temperature and number densities obtained by the experiments on the Venera entry probes, Pioneer Venus Orbiter and multi-probe missions in the 1980s. The instruments on the recent Venus Express orbiter mission generated a significant amount of new observational data on the vertical and horizontal structure of the Venus atmosphere from 40 km to about 180 km altitude from April 2006 to November 2014. Many ground based experiments have provided data on the upper atmosphere (90-130 km) temperature structure since the publication of VIRA in 1985. The "Thermal Structure of the Venus Atmosphere" Team was supported by the International Space Studies Institute (ISSI), Bern, Switzerland, from 2013 to 2015 in order to combine and compare the ground-based observations and the VEx observations of the thermal structure as a first step towards generating an updated VIRA model. Results of this comparison are presented in five latitude bins and three local time bins by assuming hemispheric symmetry. The intercomparison of the ground-based and VEx results provides for the first time a consistent picture of the temperature and density structure in the 40 km–180 km altitude range. The Venus Express observations have considerably increased our knowledge of the Venus atmospheric thermal structure above ∼40 km and provided new information above 100 km. There are, however, still observational gaps in latitude and local time above certain regions. Considerable variability in the temperatures and densities is seen above 100 km but certain features appear to be systematically present, such as a succession of warm and cool layers. Preliminary modeling studies support the existence of such layers in agreement with a global scale circulation. The intercomparison focuses on average profiles but some VEx experiments provide sufficient global coverage to identify solar thermal tidal components.

The differences between the VEx temperature profiles and the VIRA below 0.1 mbar/95 km are small. There is, however, a clear discrepancy at high latitudes in the 10-30 mbar (70-80 km) range. The VEx observations will also allow the improvement of the empirical models (VTS3 by Hedin et al., 1983 and VIRA by Keating et al., 1985) above 0.03 mbar/100 km, in particular the 100-150 km region where a sufficient observational coverage was previously missing. The next steps in order to define the updated VIRA temperature structure up to 150 km altitude are (1) define the grid on which this database may be provided, (2) fill what is possible with the results of the data intercomparison, and (3) fill the observational gaps. An interpolation between the datasets may be performed by using available General Circulation Models as guidelines.

An improved spatial coverage of observations is still necessary at all altitudes, in latitude-longitude and at all local solar times for a complete description of the atmospheric thermal structure, in particular on the dayside above 100 km. New in-situ observations in the atmosphere below 40 km are missing, an altitude region that cannot be accessed by occultation experiments. All these questions need to be addressed by future missions.

Abstract:

Abstract We investigate the conditions that will promote explosive volcanic activity on Venus. Conduit processes were simulated using a steady-state, isothermal, homogeneous flow model in tandem with a degassing model. The response of exit pressure, exit velocity, and degree of volatile exsolution was explored over a range of volatile concentrations (H2O and CO2), magma temperatures, vent altitudes, and conduit geometries relevant to the Venusian environment. We find that the addition of CO2 to an H2O-driven eruption increases the final pressure, velocity, and volume fraction gas. Increasing vent elevation leads to a greater degree of magma fragmentation, due to the decrease in the final pressure at the vent, resulting in a greater likelihood of explosive activity. Increasing the magmatic temperature generates higher final pressures, greater velocities, and lower final volume fraction gas values with a correspondingly lower chance of explosive volcanism. Cross-sectionally smaller, and/or deeper, conduits were more conducive to explosive activity. Model runs show that for an explosive eruption to occur at Scathach Fluctus, at Venus' mean planetary radius (MPR), 4.5% H2O or 3% H2O with 3% CO2 (from a 25 m radius conduit) would be required to initiate fragmentation; at Ma'at Mons (~9 km above MPR) only ~2% H2O is required. A buoyant plume model was used to investigate plume behaviour. It was found that it was not possible to achieve a buoyant column from a 25 m radius conduit at Scathach Fluctus, but a buoyant column reaching up to ~20 km above the vent could be generated at Ma'at Mons with an H2O concentration of 4.7% (at 1300 K) or a mixed volatile concentration of 3% H2O with 3% CO2 (at 1200 K). We also estimate the flux of volcanic gases to the lower atmosphere of Venus, should explosive volcanism occur. Model results suggest explosive activity at Scathach Fluctus would result in an H2O flux of ~10⁷ kg s^-1. Were Scathach Fluctus emplaced in a single event, our model suggests that it may have been emplaced in a period of ~15 days, supplying 1-2×10⁴ Mt H2O to the atmosphere locally. An eruption of this scale might increase local atmospheric H2O abundance by several ppm over an area large enough to be detectable by near-infrared nightside sounding using the 1.18 μm spectral window such as that carried out by the Venus Express/VIRTIS spectrometer. Further interrogation of the VIRTIS dataset is recommended to search for ongoing volcanism on Venus.