AERACEPT (Aerosol Rapid Analysis Combined Entry Probe/sonde Technology: Enabling In Situ Aerosol Science for Small Spacecraft Missions

AERACEPT is an early-stage technology combining an entry vehicle and descent probe in a single aeroshell instrumented for aerosol particle sampling.This approach combines previous technology demonstrations of sampling through an aeroshell body and well-established particle sampling techniques from airborne science with modern advances in thermal protection materials such as 3D woven carbon-carbon and HEEET. It is designed to be compatible with robust, fast cadence, low power, small footprint analysis instruments such as LIBS, SERS, and UV fluorescence. It is particularly well suited to a Venus mission, as the particles of interest will be in the subsonic regime of a passive descent, and is included as part of the Nephele Venus small spacecraft mission concept.