HOUSTON—Often characterized as host to an uninhabitable runaway greenhouse effect environment, Earth’s neighboring planet Venus nevertheless offers a compelling destination for planetary scientists.

But exploring the planet’s hostile surface, even with robotic landers and rovers, has so far proven too challenging for the high tech and software systems that are helping to gradually lift the veil on Earth’s other next door destination, Mars.

Like Earth and Mars, Venus is a rocky planet. It is similar in size and density to Earth. But the surface temperature and pressure on the second planet from the Sun are hot and high enough to melt lead and crush a nuclear submarine. There is no surface water, though there may have been in the distant past. The atmosphere comprises carbon dioxide and clouds of corrosive sulfuric acid.

The Soviet Union made the most concerted effort to explore the surface of Venus with its Venera and Vega missions of the late 1960s through the early 1980s. Of 14 attempted landings, nine succeeded. But none survived more than 127 min. before the harsh environment claimed the electrical systems, according to a Venus mission summary compiled by NASA.

That is why on Feb. 18 the NASA Tournament Lab and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) turned to HeroX, the six-year-old, Los Angeles- based crowdsourcing platform, to launch a competition called “Exploring Hell: Avoiding Obstacles on a Clockwork Rover.” The sponsors are reaching out beyond the space community for an obstacle avoidance sensor concept for a potential JPL-led Venus rover mission called the Automation Rover for Extreme Environments (AREE).

The goal is a sensor for a rover that could explore the terrain of Venus for months by avoiding hazards like large rocks, crevasses and steep slopes as well as the environmental conditions. Cash prizes totaling up to $30,000 are at stake—up to $15,000 for first place, $10,000 for second and $5,000 for third. The competition is open to anyone 18 years or older participating as an individual or a team from any country from which U.S. federal sanctions do not prohibit participation.

The deadline for entries is May 29 at 5 p.m. EST. The entries will be judged by HeroX and NASA experts July 1-2, with the winner announced July 6.

The sign up with further details is at  www.herox.com/VenusRover. 

“We view understanding our Solar System as extremely important, in particular the planets that are closest to us and closest to that of Earth’s composition. So it’s important for us to understand what is going on with our neighbors so that we can learn more about what is happening there. Inevitably in doing so, you always end up learning more about your home planet,” explained Ryon Stewart, challenge coordinator for NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation at Johnson Space Center.

“If we can understand what is going on at Venus and knowing what our scientists are telling us of what is happening on Earth, then definitely it’s possible we could learn information for which we will be able to make Earth better.”

One of the most successful missions to Venus was NASA’s Magellan orbiter. Launched in 1989, Magellan orbited Venus between 1990 and 1994, mapping the surface with synthetic aperture radar and gauging the gravity field. The findings included widespread evidence of volcanic eruption and a surface laced with lava flows.

JPL’s Jonathan Sauder, who leads the AREE research effort, outlined an early-stage proposal for AREE before a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) symposium in August 2016. The proposal shuns vulnerable electronics for a mechanical solution to overcome surface temperatures on Venus that exceed 450C. Current state-of-the-art electronic systems fail at 125C.

AREE’s wheels, or legs, and science instruments would be controlled by a mechanical computer and powered by a wind turbine, according to a summary of the presentation. Measurements of temperature, wind speed and seismic activity would be communicated by a rising and falling radar reflector with a piston-like form. The up and down positions of the piston would be read like Morse code by a Venus orbiter with a radar tracker. The more contemporary orbiter would relay the data to Earth.

The AREE concept dimensions are 1.5 m (5 ft.) long and 1.5 m wide.

The avoidance sensor is not to exceed 25 kg (55 lb.) in mass, while mechanically equipped to respond to slopes of 30 deg., up or down; rocks greater than 0.35 m in height; and holes or valleys greater than 0.35 m deep.

But so far AREE is a concept, far from formal development and a launch date commitment.

“There is certainly no guarantee this will be on Venus. But if not for this challenge being successful, it won’t be on Venus,” Stewart said of AREE and the need for a rugged hazard sensor. “This is a hurdle we have to get past.”