Aerospace (Aug 2022)

Rocket Lab Mission to Venus

  • Richard French,
  • Christophe Mandy,
  • Richard Hunter,
  • Ehson Mosleh,
  • Doug Sinclair,
  • Peter Beck,
  • Sara Seager,
  • Janusz J. Petkowski,
  • Christopher E. Carr,
  • David H. Grinspoon,
  • Darrel Baumgardner,
  • on behalf of the Rocket Lab Venus Team

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace9080445
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 8
p. 445

Abstract

Read online

Regular, low-cost Decadal-class science missions to planetary destinations will be enabled by high-ΔV small spacecraft, such as the high-energy Photon, and small launch vehicles, such as Electron, to support expanding opportunities for scientists and to increase the rate of science return. The Rocket Lab mission to Venus is a small direct entry probe planned for baseline launch in May 2023 with accommodation for a single ~1 kg instrument. A backup launch window is available in January 2025. The probe mission will spend about 5 min in the Venus cloud layers at 48–60 km altitude above the surface and collect in situ measurements. We have chosen a low-mass, low-cost autofluorescing nephelometer to search for organic molecules in the cloud particles and constrain the particle composition.

Keywords