Deployable Infrasonic Sensor Array for Venus Geophysical Studies (DISA)

Seismic activity on Venus has never been measured with conventional approaches due to its high surface temperature and pressure, which limit the lifetime of current state-of-the-art electronic components. However, seismic activity generates low-frequency pressure waves known as infrasound, which may be detected directly from balloons floating in the Earth-like temperature and pressure at ~60 km altitude on Venus as well as from orbital remote sensing observations of the interaction of infrasound with the upper atmosphere. The use of infrasound from balloons for seismology has been in use on Earth and it is expected to provide much better capability on Venus since seismic waves couple up to 60 times more effectively with its atmosphere than on Earth. This prospect has been explored recently and there is a PSTAR task that members of this proposal team are part of. This task and others have indicated the need for detection sensitivity for quakes as low as level 3 using small and lightweight sensors. Such sensors in arrays would enable missions that can determine the amplitude, orientation, and distance of the seismic sources. The development of effective sensing capability and reducing the development risks paves the way for the exploration of Venus geophysics towards substantially enhancing our understanding of its geological processes. We propose to develop an instrument that consists of miniaturized infrasound sensor assemblies mounted in an array configuration for operation on a balloon platform. The developed sensors will be resonant type that uses frequency measurements and benefit from the higher sensitivity. Also, they will be more robust with respect to thermal noise generation in common devices that measure pressure changes using resistance changes. The array will also have the ability to determine the direction of seismic sources using balloon motions (vector infrasound) via Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) acceleration measurements (known as aeroseismometry) and phase detection between infrasonic sensor pairs. The developed infrasonic sensors array will have a detection limit approaching 0.005 Pa over a bandwidth of 0.05 to 10 Hz. This sensitivity will allow detecting quakes having magnitude down to ~3 at distance of 150 km. This instrument, integrated with currently available electronic drive technology, would enable to map the geological activity on Venus and to study its interior structure without needing to land on the surface to deploy ground-based seismometer technology. Therefore, it would be feasible to use technology available today, rather than wait for the development of the required very high-temperature electronics for surface operations.

Development of new proof-of-concept instruments, systems or components, including sampling technologies, that significantly improve instrument measurement capabilities to address high priority science goals of planetary missions.

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