Long-Lived Venus Lander Conceptual Design: How To Keep It Cool

Team (STDT) was commissioned by NASA to study a Venus Flagship Mission potentially launching in the 2020 to 2025 timeframe; the reference lander of this study is designed to survive for only a few hours more than Venera 13 launched back in 1981! This report reviews those studies and recommends a hybrid lander architecture that can survive for at least 1 Venus day (243 Earth days) by incorporating selective Stirling multistage active cooling and hybrid thermoacoustic power.