High-Temperature/Pressure Sampling System

The National Research Council's Decadal Study released in July of 2003 recognizes Venus as an important and probable target for a New Frontiers mission within the next decade. NASA's New Frontiers missions are directed towards answering key scientific questions regarding planetary formation and evolution. Specifically, by drilling and taking in-situ measurements on Venus, insight into what global mechanisms affect the evolution of volatiles on planetary bodies, why the terrestrial planets evolved so differently from each other and how these processes operate and interact, will be gained. Honeybee proposes to develop a concept for an arm-deployed high-temperature/pressure (HTP) sampling system capable of drilling to a depth of 30-cm or more and quickly acquiring multiple core and/or unconsolidated samples from selectable depths. A Phase I award and subsequent Phase II award will bring a high-temperature/pressure sampling system to sufficient Technology Readiness Level in time for proposal of a landed Venus mission in the next round of New Frontiers solicitations. Funding under this year's SBIR program would be a critical step in the development of a flight-ready sampling system for inclusion on a Venus landed mission to be launched by 2011.