Scientists have sought for decades to explore Venus and try to unravel many unanswered questions about the planet that is often called Earth’s twin. However, Venus has been hard to study because of its extreme surface heat, overwhelming atmospheric pressure, and dense clouds.
Previous Venus landers that have reached the planet have only survived for a few hours. NASA and other agencies are working to create new age technologies that can survive the harsh conditions for at least 60 days.
Sai Swaminathan, an assistant professor in the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), is contributing to the effort. Swaminathan received funding through the NASA Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) program to develop sensor systems that can survive extreme temperature.
Swaminathan is working on the project with AsterTech, a small business in Dayton, Ohio, that leverages autonomous systems to deliver innovative material science-based products.
“We’re always interested in understanding how life beyond Earth works. If you want to do that it means putting scientific instruments in these kinds of packages to send out to far-off planets to collect data,” Swaminathan said. “Our goal is to help develop more effective and durable sensors and circuits for lander systems and other space-based probes to gain more knowledge.”
Hands-on Development
Venus—the second planet from the Sun and the Earth’s closest planetary neighbor—is the hottest planet in the solar system. The average surface temperature is about 467 degrees Celsius (872 degrees Fahrenheit), enough to melt lead.
The sensors Swaminathan and his group are creating in his lab in the Zeanah Engineering Complex need to survive at least 500 degrees Celsius for more than 1,000 hours. The group has been 3D printing different materials and testing the electrical performance of them in extreme heat to see if they degrade.
Swaminathan’s graduate student in computer engineering, Daniel Powers, has been running many of the experiments. He’s been printing the components, placing them in the lab’s 1200-degree Celsius benchtop muffle furnace, and recording the data to see which combinations of materials and circuits may work best.
“I come from a computer science background, so this type of project is really new to me. It’s been exciting to learn about all of it,” Powers said. “I think it’s the most rewarding when I go into an area where I have limited knowledge and then I do the research, assemble the parts, and make something that works.”
Pushing the Boundaries
Swaminathan’s group is currently in the first stage of what could be a three-stage project. The group eventually wants to test sensor systems that can survive up to 1,000 degrees Celsius for long periods.
“If we do get through Phase 1 and we are successful in demonstrating these materials can survive and these sensors can survive, the next step is integrating electronic chips that can survive,” Swaminathan said. “If you have computers that have memory, processing power, and other things, how would you make that whole integrated thing be able to survive? That’s what we want to see.”
More than 40 missions have previously been launched to explore Venus. NASA is planning two new robotic missions to Venus in the future: VERITAS and DAVINCI. Swaminathan believes the Tickle College of Engineering has the expertise and resources in place to contribute to future planetary exploration.
“I think we have a lot of strength here at UT in extreme materials and extreme science. I hope this project can help push the frontier in terms of space science,” Swaminathan said. “I hope this can lead to larger teams working on understanding things that inspire the next generation to think beyond everyday problems.”
Contact
Rhiannon Potkey ([email protected])