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Is anybody aware of an approach to build a probe that can least much longer on Venus? The pressure can probably be handled but how do you handle the heat?
by spaetzleesser 6y ago
Is anybody aware of an approach to build a probe that can least much longer on Venus? The pressure can probably be handled but how do you handle the heat?
- nine_k 6y agoBatteries, wires, semiconductors, insulators that can work at 600°C are known. Magnets and with them electric motors are harder, neodymium magnets stop working, but you can still do with iron and cobalt magnets. Generating power is also tricky, I have no idea how dark it is below the clouds, because all the photos are obviously adjusted to the dynamic range of displays. Possibly a nuclear-powered Stirling engine could just work, using some metal or salt with an appropriate boiling point. You can cover the exterior metal parts of your craft with something like gold or platinum to protect against the acids. This seems doable, but looks like much, much more work than a Mars lander which needs to operate in conditions similar to Antarctica, rather well studied and easily replicated.