Double Capsule Thin Metal Balloon for Low Altitude Venus Exploration

概要

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A spherical balloon made of metal shell is one of the most capable vehicles to explore the low altitude Venusian atmosphere and to observe its surface directly. It is originated from the idea that the balloon shell functions both as a balloon skin in the dense Venusian atmosphere and as a container of pressurized lifting gas. The most important point for such a super-pressurized Venus balloon system floating at an altitude of 10 to 20 km is how to reduce the weight of balloon shell. We propose a modified Venus balloon probe system with double capsule technique by sharing the function of the shell into balloon skin and gas container. That is, a thin metal shell balloon is transported to the Venusian atmosphere in a pressure vessel of a little larger size so that a load by pressure difference does not develop on the balloon shell. When the capsule reaches the target floating altitude, the outer capsule is split and the balloon inside is jettisoned. Then this type of balloon suffers small stress by only fluctuations of the Venusian environment while floating. Hence, it can be a very thin shell and the payload weight becomes over twice as much as that by a single balloon system.
特定非営利活動法人　日本ロケット協会の論文