Exploration of Venus’ Upper Atmosphere Using an Aqua and Bacteria Inspired Aerial System

摘要

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2022-2581.vid This paper aims to design a jellyfish-inspired robot for the exploration of Venus’ atmosphere. Venus’ hostile environment necessitates different methods for planetary analysis than that of Mars or Earth. In this research, an established jellyfish-inspired drone design is modified to take advantage of Venus’ dense atmosphere for the purpose of upper atmospheric exploration. The original design uses modified Stephenson-I 6-Bar linkages to actuate a soft skin to produce thrust in a fluid, similar to the movement of a jellyfish’s bell; this research compares the original actuator design to 3 new designs based on the 6-Bar and 4-Bar linkages. In addition, a Crank mechanism to change the profile of the balloon is proposed, and the resulting effect on the drag force is compared between the original spherical profile and the modified oblong profile. These mechanisms will allow the robot to maximize its operational time in Venus’s atmosphere. In combination with the design of the jellyfish-inspired robot is the proposal of flagellate-inspired robots that rely on Venus's strong winds to power its host of sensors.