The Venus Spectral Rocket (VeSpR)

CSP scientists and engineers are preparing a sounding rocket experiment, VeSpR, for launch in late Nov. 2013. This experiment will observe UV emissions from Venus with a small telescope, and attempt to detect the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen (D/H) in the upper atmosphere of Venus. The D/H ratio is key to understanding the historic escape of water from the atmosphere of Venus, which today is bone dry. The telescope will measure the brightness of the H and D Lyman alpha UV emissions, which are absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere and not seen below 120 km altitude. CSP scientists J. Clarke and C. Carveth, and engineer N. Darling, are now assembling and testing the payload with the support of engineers at NASA. The flight will be from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The payload will travel to ~ 300 km altitude, then return on a parachute and land ~ 50 miles out in the desert.