Black Swift lands NASA contract for Venus observation

BOULDER — Black Swift Technologies LLC, a Boulder-based specialized aerospace engineering firm, was awarded a contract by NASA to develop an unmanned aircraft system designed to perform upper atmospheric observations of Venus.

BST is proposing a planetary aerial vehicle that will use dynamic soaring, a method that will extract energy from the atmosphere allowing the device to operate in Venus’ unique conditions.

“While there have been a variety of systems proposed for upper atmospheric observations of Venus, the planet’s high wind speeds pose a significant design challenge,” Jack Elston, CEO of Black Swift Technologies, said in a prepared statement. “Our solution will be designed to not only survive in the harsh wind environment but also simultaneously perform targeted sampling of the atmosphere while continuously extracting energy, even on the dark side of the planet.”

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The upper atmosphere for Venus has been an area wanted for exploration, due to its similarity to the pressure and temperature of Earth. The surface temperature of Venus is extremely hot, but about 31 miles above the planet surface the atmosphere is the most Earth-like, even more so than Mars.

“Black Swift Technologies has provided aerial solutions for wildland fires, volcanic observations, tornadoes and hurricanes — some of the most extreme phenomena on Earth,” Elston said in a statement. “This mission is a natural extension of our focus, only now we are concentrating on the extreme conditions of Venus.”