Lava World Away team practice: NASA’s VERITAS science team studies volcanic Iceland

With its overwhelming atmospheric pressure, clouds of sulfuric acid, and scorching surface temperatures, Venus is a particularly difficult place to study. But scientists know that observing their surfaces can provide important insights into the habitability and evolution of rocky planets like ours. That’s why NASA’s VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy) mission will be launched within the next decade to gain a global view of Venus while staying high above its hellish atmosphere. We plan to investigate the surface of Venus from orbit and uncover clues. About the nature of its interior.

To lay the groundwork for this mission, members of the international Veritas science team traveled to Iceland for a two-week campaign in August, using the volcanic island as a stand-in, or analogue, for Venus. Locations on our planet are often used as analogues of other planets, especially to prepare technologies and techniques for more inhospitable environments.

“Iceland is a volcanic country that sits on top of a hot plume. Venus is a volcanic planet with abundant geological evidence of active plumes,” said the senior scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. said Suzanne Smrekar, principal investigator at VERITAS. “Iceland is a great place to study Venus on Earth because of its geological similarities, which will help science teams prepare for Venus.”

The Veritas mission will utilize state-of-the-art synthetic aperture radar to create a 3D map of the Earth and a near-infrared spectrometer to distinguish the main rock types on Venus’s surface. But to better understand what the spacecraft’s radar “sees” on Earth, the Veritas science team needs to compare radar observations of Iceland’s terrain from above with ground-based measurements. there is.

From the sky to the ground

In the first half of the campaign, Veritas’ scientific team investigated the Asja volcanic deposits and Holhraun lava field in the Icelandic Highlands, an active area characterized by young rocks and recent lava flows. In the second half, we visited the volcanically active Fagradalsfjar region on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland. Both barren, rocky landscapes resemble the surface of Venus, which is thought to have been activated by active volcanic activity.

Nineteen scientists from the United States, Germany, Italy and Iceland worked long hours at the camp, studying the surface roughness and other properties of rocks in these areas, and also collecting laboratory samples. Meanwhile, flights led by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, or DLR) collected radar data from above.

Members of the Veritas science team descend a slope toward new rock formed by recent lava flows during a field trip in Iceland in early August. The team used the volcanic landscape as an analogue of Venus to test radar technology and techniques.Credit: NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology

“While the JPL-led science team was working on the ground, our partners at DLR were flying overhead collecting airborne radar images of the areas we were investigating,” said JPL’s VERITAS deputy. said Daniel Nunez, project scientist and head of campaign planning in Iceland. “Surface brightness as measured by radar is related to surface properties such as texture, roughness, and moisture content. We collect information in the field to accurately examine radar data, and Veritas We use it to provide information about the science we plan to do.”

Flying approximately 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) above the ground aboard DLR’s Dornier 228-212 aircraft, synthetic aperture radar detects S-band (radio waves with a wavelength of approximately 12 centimeters or 4.7 inches) and X-band (radio waves with a wavelength of approximately 3 centimeters). ) was collected. , or 1.2 inches) data. The shorter wavelength of X-band data, the radio frequency used by Veritas, allows for the use of more compact antennas than S-band. S-band was used in NASA’s Magellan mission to map nearly the entire surface of Venus in the early 1990s.

By observing the surface of both bands in Iceland, the science team will refine computer algorithms that will help Veritas identify changes to Venus’ surface that occurred after the Magellan mission. By detecting changes over the past 40 years, researchers will be able to identify key areas of geological activity on Venus, such as active volcanoes.

Members of the international Veritas science team prepare for LIDAR (light detection and ranging) imaging of rocks in Iceland. Lidar measurements of rocky terrain provide information about its material composition.Credit: NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology

The main goal of this campaign was to create as large a sample library of Icelandic volcanic surface textures as possible to better understand the different eruption styles on Venus. The DLR field team also collected compositional information using a camera that emulates the Venus Emissivity Mapper (VEM) instrument that the German Aerospace Center is building for his VERITAS. This data supports a spectral library being created at the Institute for Planetary Spectroscopy in Berlin.

“Various surface features and features seen on Venus are related to volcanic activity, which can be traced back to the planet’s interior,” Smrekar said. “This data will be valuable for Veritas to help us better understand Venus. We will also be working with the European Space Agency’s EnVision mission to study the surface of Venus with S-band radar, as well as radar observations of the planet’s volcanic surface. It will also be useful for the entire community who want to understand.”

But the value of the two-week Iceland campaign went beyond the science, Nunes said, providing a team-building opportunity that will resonate for years to come. “It was a great dynamic,” he added. “We pushed hard and helped each other out. From renting tools to driving to the research site to buying supplies, everyone scrambled to make it happen.”

The scientific team used a tripod-mounted LIDAR scanner to create this image that highlights the rope-like texture of new rock formed by recent lava flows near Iceland’s Litli Furtur volcano. This is used to compare with campaign air radar images of the same area.Credit: NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology

Mission details

Veritas and NASA’s Deep Atmosphere Venus Noble Gas, Chemistry, and Imaging Survey (DAVINCI) mission has been selected as the agency’s next Venus mission in 2021 under NASA’s Discovery Program. Veritas’ partners include Lockheed Martin Space, the Italian Space Agency, DLR, and the French National University Spatial Center. The discovery program is managed by the Planetary Mission Program Office at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the Planetary Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

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