Subscale Prototype and Hangar Test Flight of a Venus Variable-Altitude Aerobot

Venus aerobots, balloon-based platforms capable of floating an order-100kg spacecraft payload, are under active technology development at JPL for variable-altitude flights in the Venus cloudlayer. In this paper, we describe a roughly 1:3 subscale prototype aerobot manufactured in collaboration with Near Space Corporation. The prototype is made of the requisite materials for surviving the Venus environment from 52km to 62km altitude, including protection from sulfuric acid aerosols and the strong solar & infrared fluxes. In preparation for outdoor flights of this prototype at the relevant densities here on Earth, we present initial results from our indoor hangar calibration flights. These flights provide insight into the dynamics of these aerobots, and provide a basis for comparing our first-principle simulation models to the flight data.