nasa | The feasibility of a Stirling engine powered airship for the near
surface exploration of Venus was evaluated. The heat source for the
Stirling engine was limited to 10 general purpose heat source (GPHS)
blocks. The baseline airship utilized hydrogen as the lifting gas and
the electronics and payload were enclosed in a cooled insulated pressure
vessel to maintain the internal temperature at 320 K and 1 Bar
pressure. The propulsion system consisted of an electric motor driving a
propeller. An analysis was set up to size the airship that could
operate near the Venus surface based on the available thermal power. The
atmospheric conditions on Venus were modeled and used in the analysis.
The analysis was an iterative process between sizing the airship to
carry a specified payload and the power required to operate the
electronics, payload and cooling system as well as provide power to the
propulsion system to overcome the drag on the airship. A baseline
configuration was determined that could meet the power requirements and
operate near the Venus surface. From this baseline design additional
trades were made to see how other factors affected the design such as
the internal temperature of the payload chamber and the flight altitude.
In addition other lifting methods were evaluated such as an evacuated
chamber, heated atmospheric gas and augmented heated lifting gas.
However none of these methods proved viable.
