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Arthur T Knackerbracket [soylentnews.org] writes:

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story [ieee.org]:

A gauntlet of engineering challenges await a search for evidence of alien life

Some time in next ten years, a Chinese mission aims to do what’s never been done before: collect cloud particles from Venus [ieee.org] and bring them home. But achieving that goal will mean overcoming one of the most hostile environments in the solar system—the planet’s cloaking [ieee.org] clouds are primarily made up of droplets of sulfuric acid.

When China [ieee.org] unveiled a long-term roadmap [spacenews.com] for space science and exploration last fall, its second phase (2028-2035) included an unprecedented Venus [ieee.org] atmosphere sample return mission. As is typical for Chinese space missions, few details were made public. But information in a recent presentation [x.com] shared on Chinese social media [ieee.org] gives us new insight into early mission plans.

The slide shows that the key scientific questions being targeted include the potential for life on Venus, the planet’s atmospheric evolution, and the mystery of UV absorbers in its clouds. The mission will carry a sample collection device as well as in-situ atmospheric analysis equipment. The search for life is, in part, due to the interest generated by a controversial study published in Nature Astronomy [nature.com]in 2020 that suggested that traces of phosphine in Venus’ atmosphere could be an indication of a biological process.

Mission proposals [nasa.gov] like MIT’s offer a window into the daunting technical challenges that China’s team is facing. Getting to Venus, entering its thick atmosphere, collecting samples and getting back into Venus orbit to a waiting orbiter to return the samples the Earth, all come with various challenges. But the potential scientific payoff clearly makes these hurdles worth clearing.

The MIT team proposed a Teflon-coated balloon capable of resisting acid corrosion that would float through the sky without the need for propulsion and the associated fuel and mass. Conversely, China’s preliminary render shows a winged vehicle, suggesting it is pursuing a different architectural path.

An ascent vehicle will be needed to get the sample canister into orbit to rendezvous and dock with a waiting orbiter. A two-stage solid propellant rocket—similar to that planned for Mars sample return mission [ieee.org] architectures—would be one of the simpler options. But operating remotely or autonomously, millions of kilometers from Earth, in unknown conditions, will be exacting.

MIT’s proposed mission design would require 22 tons of spacecraft, with the ultimate aim of delivering 10 grams of atmospheric samples to Earth. It’s likely the Chinese design would offer a similar ratio. However, even such a relatively small amount of material could be revolutionary in our understanding of Venus and our solar system [ieee.org].

“I’m super excited about this,” says Seager. “Even if there’s no life, we know there’s interesting organic chemistry, for sure. And it would be amazing to get samples in hand to really solve some of the big mysteries on Venus.”

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