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Morning Star Missions to Venus
Habitability Probe

Mission Concept
Launch May 2031
Entry in Venus October 2031
Search for Building Blocks of Life
Detect and identify classes of complex organic molecules that could indicate the presence of life.
Measure Habitability Indicators
Determine the acidity of the Venus cloud particles.
Characterize Cloud Particles
Determine the unknown UV absorber in the clouds of Venus – a nearly century-old mystery.

Balloon Operations
Science Instruments
Mass 15 kg
Energy 4500 Wh
Gondola Volume 34 liters
Nominal Measurement Altitude 52 km
Science Mission Duration 7 days
Gondola Ambient Conditions
Average Temperature (Range) 60 ºC (-10 to 94 ºC)
Average Pressure (Range) 0.8 bar (0.2 to 1.4 bar)
Venus Entry & Orbit
Expected Entry Conditions:
Entry Velocity 10.92 km/s
Entry Flight Path Angle -15º
Peak g-load 125 Earth g’s
Peak Heat Rate ~1500 W/cm²
Total Heat Load ~10.5 kJ/cm²

Gondola Subsystems

Mini LEVL Probes
Thirty individual auto-rotating probes, each of 30 g mass, to measure cloud acidity, ammonia, large and small-scale fluctuations in wind, temperature & pressure.



Primary Instrument
ORIGIN Laser Desorption Mass Spectrometer





Mission Schedule
