Black Swift Technologies (BST) has been awarded a NASA contract to develop a UAS to perform “upper atmospheric observations” of the planet Venus.

BST is proposing a “planetary aerial vehicle based on dynamic soaring,” which the company says is a “proven method to extract energy from atmospheric shear that has propelled the fastest small-scale aircraft in the world,” and provided the energy needed for “long-endurance low-level flights of birds across oceans.”

“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,” explains Jack Elston, Ph.D., CEO of Black Swift Technologies.

“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.”

Venus’ surface temperature is hotter than any other planet in the Solar System at 467 degrees Celsius, but its atmospheric pressure and temperature at about 50 kilometers to 65 kilometers above the surface of the planet is nearly the same as the Earth’s according to BST, making its upper atmosphere the most Earth-like area in the Solar System.

Because of the similarity in pressure and temperature of Earth, the upper atmosphere of Venus has been the focus of exploration for decades, BST notes.

Venus’ atmosphere is made up mostly of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, and its atmosphere is also much denser and hotter than Earth’s.

BST says that the upper layer of Venus’ atmosphere “exhibits a phenomenon of super-rotation, where the atmosphere circles the planet in just four Earth days.” The resulting winds blow at speeds up to 220 miles per hour, but the wind speed becomes increasingly slower as the elevation from the surface decreases, with the breeze barely reaching a speed of 2.8 m/s on the surface.

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