High-Temperature MEMS based Venus seismometer

Goals/objectives: The objectives of the proposed work are 1) to design a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) sensor based seismometer that, when fully matured, will be able to operate on the Venus surface for >60 days and 2) develop the seismometer to a maturity level of at least TRL-4 by the end of the project. Project approach/methodology: This project will leverage progress and expertise acquired through several other NASA funded efforts. The scope of this work will be to; a) adapt seismic sensors (with heritage from prior space missions) to the Venus environment, b) design & build the supporting high-temperature electronics to acquire, condition, and process the sensor's measurements via iterative building process, c) integrate a) and b) into a 1 axis system that could interface with a notional long duration lander d) test the system for environmental robustness and performance, e) support elements a - d with the requirements definition, analysis, modeling and testing to provide confidence that the instrument will have an acceptable noise floor across a relevant frequency band for Venus. As stated, this work will leverage several other NASA funded efforts. The leveraging and expected advantages are described in 1-4 below. 1) The seismometer will build on a MEMS sensor currently used in the SEIS-SP (Mars Insight mission). Collaborations with the sensor provider have been ongoing for some time. This project make an assessment and use that to move into adapting the sensors for Venus quicker and with lower risk. 2) High temperature electronics suitable to drive the proposed sensors are in development at NASA Glenn under the Long-Lived In-situ Solar System Explorer (LLISSE) project. Those electronics are already driving capacitive style sensors (like the SEIS-SP sensors). Therefore, this project will benefit by leveraging the electronics with the needed complexity. This will greatly reduce risk and cost yet increase maturation. The pool of expertise being used to mature LLISSE electronics will also be tapped to support this effort. Some are already familiarity with the SEIS-SP sensors, which again, translates to more progress at lower cost. 3) The proposed seismometer is envisioned to be integrated onto a LLISSE-like platform. The team working on this proposal will have strong ties to the development of LLISSE. This reduces risk and cost while increasing infusion potential because there will be a greater definition and understanding of the interfaces between the instrument and potential lander than is generally possible. Further, if either the lander or the seismometer interfaces change it will more likely be identified and addressed earlier. The potential of a LLISSE-like lander as host to the proposed seismometer is not arbitrary. NASA competitively selected the Seismic and Atmospheric Exploration of Venus (SAEVe) lander to study as a concept and LLISSE was is baselined on both the Venus flagship mission study and Venera-D. 4) An ongoing EPSCoR project (U of Alaska) is working closely with this PI and under this project establish science requirements that flow down to engineering requirements at the seismometer element level. Modeling various characteristics of a potential Venus seismometer and its application in the expected Venus environments will also be leveraged. The EPSCoR work is structured around on a SEIS-SP like sensor supported by high-temperature electronics as proposed here. The EPSCoR work is also factoring in constraints consistent with an application on a LLISSE-like lander. Once again, that ongoing effort will be leveraged to reduce risk and make quicker progress. This proposed work is within the scope of HOTTCH because the program description explicitly states that technologies like sensors that operate for 60 days on the Venus surface are solicited by this call. The work proposed here squarely fits this description.

Developing Instrument or spacecraft technology to improve measurements for future planetary science missions

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