Seismology on Venus without Landing On It

Seismology is essential for understanding a planet’s interior structure and evolution. However, on Venus, high surface temperature and pressure present a difficult technological challenge to traditional seismology. However, balloon-based barometers have the potential to detect and characterize atmospheric waves launched by venusquakes and volcanic eruptions while offering substantially longer instrument lifetimes in the Venus middle atmosphere, where temperature and pressure are significantly more benign (0-100°C, ~1 atm) as compared to the surface (> 460°C, ~90 atm). A balloon-based investigation of Venus quake and volcanic activity can also serve as a pathfinder for highly-targeted missions involving long-lived surface seismometers in the future. In addition, auxiliary data collected to discriminate seismic infrasound from other naturally occurring sources can contribute valuable in-situ data to study important atmospheric science questions on Venus. In this presentation, we discuss efforts to develop a new technique to detect and characterize seismic activity on Venus, without landing on it, from a balloon in its clouds. We discuss the physical basis for this effort, balloon campaigns on Earth, and simulation studies that are paving the way forward. We also discuss plans for the future to make seismology on Venus a reality.