Venus cloud catcher as a proof of concept aerosol collection instrument
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s41598-024-80847-8.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
5.01 MB
Format
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Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Iakubivskyi, Iaroslav
Seager, Sara
Carr, Christopher E
Petkowski, Janusz J
Agrawal, Rachana
Moreno, M Regina A
Nellutla, Snigdha
Date Issued
December 3, 2024
Journal
Scientific Reports
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Iakubivskyi, I., Seager, S., Carr, C.E. et al. Venus cloud catcher as a proof of concept aerosol collection instrument. Sci Rep 14, 30045 (2024).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We report on the proof-of-concept of a low-mass, low-power method for collecting micron-sized sulfuric acid aerosols in bulk from the atmosphere of Venus. The collection method uses four wired meshes in a sandwich structure with a deposition area of 225 cm2. It operates in two modes: passive and electrostatic. During passive operation, aerosols are gathered on the deposition surface by aerodynamic force. During electrostatic operation, a tungsten needle discharges a high voltage of - 10 kV at the front of the grounded mesh structure. The discharge ionizes aerosols and attracts them to the mesh by Coulomb forces, resulting in improved efficiency and tentative attraction of submicron aerosols. We describe the instrument construction and testing in the laboratory under controlled conditions with aerosols composed of 25%, 50%, 70%, 80%, 90% and 98%* concentration by volume of sulfuric acid, the rest water. We demonstrated the following: (i) both modes of operation can collect the entire range of sulfuric acid solutions; (ii) the collection efficiency increases steadily (from a few percent for water to over 40% for concentrated sulfuric acid) with the increased concentration of sulfuric acid solution in water in both modes; (iii) the relative improvement in the collection of the electrostatic mode decreases as the sulfuric acid concentration increases. We also demonstrated the operation of the instrument in the field, cloud particle collection on Mt. Washington, NH, and crater-rim fumaroles' particle collection on Kīlauea volcano, HI. The collection rate in the field is wind-speed dependent, and we observed collection rates around 0.1 ml[Formula: see text] in low wind environments (1-2 m[Formula: see text]), and around 1 ml[Formula: see text] in stronger wind (7-9 m[Formula: see text]).
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-80847-8
