Techniques to Support the Aerial Deployment and Inflation of Venus Aerobots

The proposed effort focuses on two critical phases required for a successful Venus Aerobot mission. The aerobot platform is optimized for the science portion of the flight, it must first be deployed to Venus and inflated. These are the two focus areas for the proposed Phase II effort. Phase I developed a robust technique for providing a controlled deployment and supported the inflation process by helping align the envelope to prevent damage caused by excessive shock loads or flagging. Phase I then culminated with hangar tests using off the shelf hardware, demonstrating the feasibility of the design. Phase II will specifically address mission specific hardware, designed for the requirements of the Venus mission, and validate the deployment and inflation techniques with a flight test.

The principal commercial application of this Phase II effort is to validate the mission specific designs necessary for an Aerobot mission to Venus. There is significant effort to develop Venus Aerobot platforms, primarily focused on the final mission phase. It is absolutely critical to first be able to deploy and inflate the system once reaching the Venus atmosphere.

The techniques developed under this effort also apply to the fast growing commercial operation of high altitude platforms.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 6) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.