The VISTA (Venus In Situ Science andTechnical Aerobot) Mission Concept

Understanding the intricacies of Venus is key in the field of planetary science and provides invaluable insights into the evolution of Earth. A promising way of studying the Venusian environment involves the use of aerobots active in the benign region of the atmosphere. However, balloon missions to Venus, whether already conducted or just proposed, all suffer from very short mission life-time due to issues with sustained lifting.

Here, we present the VISTA mission concept. The mission concept proposes a solution to long-endurance aerobot flight on Venus through the use of in situ nitrogen extraction. The nitrogen content of the Venusian atmosphere in the convective cloud layer (50-60 km altitude) is about
3.5%. Obtaining it from the atmosphere can potentially provide a long-term supply of lifting gas, solving the unavoidable problem of lifting gas leakage. Greatly extended potential mission duration allows for much more extensive studies of the large scale wind patterns and detailed investigations of the atmosphere through time. It also enables the study of Venus’ interior, including detection of rare seismic events. The present work proposes a detailed mission concept for a long-term balloon-based aerobot that aims to uncover the mysteries of Venus. The detailed design and mission timeline will be presented at the meeting.

Acknowledgements: This work is the compiled result of the 2026 AE-TU Delft DSE. ESS acknowledges funding of ERC StG VenusVolAtmos. We thank Colin Wilson and Iaroslav Iakubivskyi for their valuable insights.