Hesperos: A geophysical mission to Venus

TL;DR

Hesperos is a proposed Venus mission combining an orbiter and a balloon to study Venus's interior, activity, and atmospheric composition, aiming to understand its geophysical characteristics and potential tectonic activity.

Contribution

It introduces a novel dual-element mission concept with a balloon and orbiter to investigate Venus's interior and atmosphere simultaneously.

Findings

Balloon operates for 25 days to analyze atmospheric composition.

Orbiter conducts surface and gravity mapping over 7 Venus days.

Mission design integrates long-term interior and atmospheric studies.

Abstract

The Hesperos mission proposed in this paper is a mission to Venus to investigate the interior structure and the current level of activity. The main questions to be answered with this mission are whether Venus has an internal structure and composition similar to Earth and if Venus is still tectonically active. To do so the mission will consist of two elements: an orbiter to investigate the interior and changes over longer periods of time and a balloon floating at an altitude between 40 and 60\~km to investigate the composition of the atmosphere. The mission will start with the deployment of the balloon which will operate for about 25 days. During this time the orbiter acts as a relay station for data communication with Earth. Once the balloon phase is finished the orbiter will perform surface and gravity gradient mapping over the course of 7 Venus days. This mission proposal is the result of the Alpbach Summer School and the post-Alpbach week.