Dr. Michael Hecht and his team at MIT propose the EVE (Exploring Venus with Electrolysis) project, a potential game-changer for Venus exploration. EVE leverages the principles of MOXIE, the Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment, to address the limitations of traditional balloon missions. Utilizing solid oxide electrolysis (SOE) to generate oxygen and carbon monoxide from Venus's carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere, EVE aims to provide an unlimited supply of buoyant gases and electricity, eliminating the need for heavy batteries and addressing the challenges of Venus's long night cycle. This innovative approach could pave the way for more extended and ambitious Venus exploration missions.
Sometimes, the most innovative ideas stem from combining existing concepts. We've previously discussed the concept of using balloons to explore Venus's atmosphere, and closely followed the progress of the Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment ( MOXIE ) aboard the Perseverance rover on Mars. By merging these two ideas, Dr.
Michael Hecht, the principal investigator of the MOXIE system and a professor at MIT, and his team, aim to address many of the challenges hindering balloon exploration of Venus's upper atmosphere, the most habitable place in the solar system besides Earth, through their project, Exploring Venus with Electrolysis (EVE). This project recently received a NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase I grant as part of the 2025 NIAC awards.Current proposals for balloon missions to Venus face two primary hurdles. Firstly, the buoyant gases required to keep them aloft gradually leak over time, limiting the mission duration. Secondly, they need to carry substantial amounts of batteries to power their electronics and, to some extent, the gases themselves, ensuring they can withstand Venus's 50-hour night cycle. When the gases inside the balloon cool excessively, they depressurize, causing the balloon to descend. Utilizing a system akin to MOXIE could resolve both of these issues.MOXIE gained notoriety for producing oxygen on Mars by splitting carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere into carbon monoxide and oxygen through a process called solid oxide electrolysis (SOE). Although this project has concluded, it demonstrated the feasibility of generating oxygen from carbon dioxide, even on other planets. Venus's upper atmosphere is abundant in carbon dioxide, in fact, it constitutes the primary component of that atmosphere. It's noteworthy that both carbon monoxide and oxygen, the byproducts of the SOE process, are lighter than the carbon dioxide from which they are derived. In essence, in Venus's atmosphere, the outputs of the SOE process are buoyant. Furthermore, Dr. Hecht highlights another advantage of employing the SOE system in an interview with Fraser. 'When people ask me how MOXIE works, I always describe it as a fuel cell running backwards,' he states. However, during the Venusian night, 'you could take some fraction, maybe 10% of the carbon monoxide and oxygen that you made during the daytime and run it through the instrument backwards to get power at night.' EVE wouldn't only obtain an inexhaustible supply of buoyant gases from the SOE process, but it would also effectively have unlimited electricity, even without sunlight, and without the need for heavy batteries that would otherwise weigh it down. Additional benefits include utilizing carbon monoxide as a propellant for other powered aircraft, for which the balloon could serve as a base station. Numerous possibilities arise when considering the applications of this platform. This approach presents several advantages when implemented on Venus. Due to the thickness of its atmosphere, particularly compared to Mars, the SOE system in Venus's atmosphere would only require a fan instead of the miniaturized compressive pump used in the MOXIE system aboard Perseverance. Additionally, Venus's proximity to the Sun provides abundant solar power during the day, unlike Mars, where the Perseverance rover relied on a radioisotope thermal generator. However, Venus presents unique challenges; it also contains a small amount of sulfuric acid in its atmosphere. Dr. Hecht emphasizes the need for a protective coating, such as Teflon, on the components exposed to the atmosphere. He doesn't appear concerned about the mass increase, stating, 'How much mass is in your nonstick pan from the Teflon coating?' Nevertheless, a delicate balance is required with the SOE process itself. Dr. Hecht mentions in his NIAC proposal the goal of achieving a 75% conversion efficiency between CO2 and Oxygen/CO. If aiming for higher efficiency, such as 100%, some of the CO produced during the process is also electrolyzed, resulting in the instrument becoming clogged with pure carbon (i.e., soot).However, at the 75% efficiency range (which, admittedly, is about 3 times more efficient than MOXIE was), the buoyancy of the oxygen and a blend of the leftover CO2 and CO is approximately equal. This allows for splitting the two gas streams into separate chambers, achieving equal buoyancy without tilting. Overall, this appears to be a highly practical solution to a longstanding problem concerning a long-held concept for Venus exploration. But why stop there? Dr. Hecht also mentions that such a system would theoretically function on Titan and other planets and moons with thick atmospheres. As EVE progresses through the NIAC phases and the team initiates detailed technical work, humanity will inch closer to a technology that could revolutionize the exploration of our nearest planetary neighbor
Planetary Science Technology Venus Exploration Balloon Missions MOXIE Solid Oxide Electrolysis (SOE) Atmospheric Science Electrolysis Space Technology NASA NIAC
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