page_title: Aerobot
section_title: The Venus Vega balloons
hierarchical_section_title: Aerobot / Basics of balloons / The Venus Vega balloons
caption_attribution_description: English: Russian "Vega" balloon mission to the atmosphere of Venus on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Institution. Photo by Geoffrey A. Landis, 2011.
context_page_description: An aerobot is an aerial robot, usually used in the context of an unmanned space probe or unmanned aerial vehicle.
  While work has been done since the 1960s on robot "rovers" to explore the Moon and other worlds in the Solar system, such machines have limitations. They tend to be expensive and have limited range, and due to the communications time lags over interplanetary distances, they have to be smart enough to navigate without disabling themselves.
  For planets with atmospheres of any substance, however, there is an alternative: an autonomous flying robot, or "aerobot". Most aerobot concepts are based on aerostats, primarily balloons, but occasionally airships. Flying above obstructions in the winds, a balloon could explore large regions of a planet in detail for relatively low cost. Airplanes for planetary exploration have also been proposed.
context_section_description: The first, and so far only, planetary balloon mission was performed by the Space Research Institute of Soviet Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the French space agency CNES in 1985. A small balloon, similar in appearance to terrestrial weather balloons, was carried on each of the two Soviet Vega Venus probes, launched in 1984.
  The first balloon was inserted into the atmosphere of Venus on 11 June 1985, followed by the second balloon on 15 June 1985. The first balloon failed after only 56 minutes, but the second operated for a little under two Earth days until its batteries ran down.
  The Venus Vega balloons were the idea of Jacques Blamont, chief scientist for CNES and the father of planetary balloon exploration. He energetically promoted the concept and enlisted international support for the small project.
  The scientific results of the Venus VEGA probes were modest. More importantly, the clever and simple experiment demonstrated the validity of using balloons for planetary exploration.
caption: Vega balloon probe on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Institution.
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