ETH students build test satellites for Venus mission

(CONNECT) Students on the Space Systems Master's program at ETH have simulated how satellites could be used on a Venus mission to collect information about the planet. This is because extreme temperatures, enormous pressure and an atmosphere with a high sulphuric acid content make land emissions almost impossible. According to an ETH report, satellites could therefore be a promising solution for learning more about the planet.

If they could one day fly through the atmosphere of Venus to record the sounds of volcanic activity, then it might be possible to draw conclusions about the geological conditions and atmospheric development of Venus. In just eight weeks, the students built small satellites in can format, which they call CanSats. "We wanted to find out whether satellites can detect and localize volcanic eruptions using acoustic signals," says Simon Stähler, the program director of the Space Master, quoted by ETH.

After the four satellites were dropped from an airplane over the Dübendorf military airfield, they were suspended from a parachute to record as many explosions as possible. In a video, Stähler explains: "We didn't have any real volcanic eruptions here in Dübendorf. A few auxiliary assistants hid at the airfield with petards and set them off."

Student Urs Wilcke describes the following analysis: "Next, we take the SD cards out of all the CanSats to analyze them. And then we'll see what our satellites have recorded and whether they were able to hear and identify the explosions we heard." ce/mm