making the venus concept watch 1.0

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64th International Astronautical Congress, Beijing, China. Copyright ©2013 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.

IAC–13–E5.4.6

IAC–13–E5.4.6 MAkIng thE VEnus ConCEpt WAtCh 1.0

Tibor S. Balint & Julian P. MelchiorriRoyal College of Art, Innovation Design Engineering

Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2EU, United Kingdome-mail: [email protected]

AbstrAct

Over the past year we have celebrated the 50th anniversary of planetary exploration, which started with the Venus flyby of Mariner-2; and the 35th anniversary of the Pioneer-Venus multi-probe mission where one large and three small probes descended to the surface of Venus, encountering extreme environmental conditions. At the surface of Venus the temperature is about 460°C, and the pressure is 92 bar, with a highly corrosive super-critical CO2 atmosphere. At a Ve-nusian altitude of 50 km the pressure and temperature conditions are near Earth-like, but the clouds carry sulfuric acid droplets. Deep probe missions to Jupiter and Saturn, targeting the 100 bar pressure depth encounter similar pressure and temperature conditions as the Pioneer-Venus probes did. Mitigating these environments is highly challenging and requires special considerations for designs and materials. While assessing such space mission concepts, we have found that there is an overlap between the extreme environments in planetary atmospheres and the environments experienced by deep-sea explorers back on Earth. Consequently, the mitigation approaches could be also similar between planetary probes and diver watches. For example, both need to tolerate about 100 bars of pressure—although high temperatures are not factors on Earth. Mitigating these environments, the potential materials are: titanium for the probe and the watch housing; sapphire for the window and glass; resin impregnated woven carbon fiber for the aeroshell’s thermal protection system and for the face of the watch; and nylon ribbon for the parachute and for the watch band. Planetary probes also utilize precision watches, thus there is yet another crosscutting functionality with diver watches. Our team, from the Innovation Design Engineering Program of the Royal College of Art, have designed and built a con-cept watch to commemorate these historical events, while highlighting advances in manufacturing processes over the past three to five decades, relevant to both future planetary mission designs and could be use to produce deep diver watches. In this paper we describe our design considerations; give a brief overview of the extreme environments these components would experience on both Venus and Earth; the manufacturing techniques and materials we used to build the Venus Watch; and its outreach potential to bring a distant concept of planetary exploration closer to Earth. We will also address lessons learned from this project and new ideas forward, for the next generation of this concept design.

bAckground

The historic Venus flyby of Mariner-2 fifty years ago started our planetary and solar system exploration. Also, this year marks the 35th anniversary of the Pioneer–Venus (P-V) multi-probe mission to Venus (Fig.1). The P-V mis-sion was launch in 1978, and the probes (3 small (Fig.2)and 1 large) entered the atmosphere of Venus on Decem-ber 9, 1978. The descent to the surface took about 60 min-utes. The Galileo mission was launched on October 18, 1989, and the Galileo probe entered Jupiter on December 7, 1995. The probe descent—and its corresponding in situ lifetime—was 57.6 minutes.

These probe missions to Venus and Jupiter encountered severe environmental conditions during atmospheric en-try and descent. Specifically, at the surface of Venus the temperature is about 460°C, and the pressure is 92 bar. The predominantly CO2 atmosphere is super-critical and highly corrosive. (On Earth, super-critical carbon dioxide is typically used for dry-cleaning.) In comparison, at a Venusian altitude of 50 km the pressure and temperature

conditions are near Earth-like, but the clouds carry sul-furic acid droplets. Mitigating this environment is highly challenging and requires special considerations for de-signs and materials.

Deep probe missions to Jupiter and Saturn, targeting the 100 bar pressure depth, encounter similar pressure and temperature conditions as the Pioneer–Venus probes did, thus require similar mitigation techniques.

Venus, Saturn and Jupiter mission concept studies and related technology assessments have been published in a large number of books, papers and conference presen-tations, including in [Baines et al., 2008], [Balint et al., 2010], [Balint & Cutts, 2009], [Chassefière et al., 2008]; [Balint et al., 2008], [Balint et al., 2007], [Cutts et al., 2007], [Kolawa et al., 2007], [Atkinson et al., 2009], [Balint et al., 2009], [Balint et al., 2008a], [Balint et al., 2008b], [Balint et al., 2008c], [Balint et al., 2007a], [Balint et al., 2007b], [Balint et al., 2006], [Balint et al., 2005], [Wercinski et al., 2005], [Balint et al., 2003].

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Looking at in situ missions and mission concepts to ex-plore Venus and the Giant Planets, namely Jupiter and Saturn, it was evident that there is significant commonali-ty between the extreme environments found at deep plan-etary atmospheres, and the environments experienced by deep sea divers and their watches back on Earth.

For example, on the surface of Venus or at the target pres-sure depths of the Giant Planets (e.g., Jupiter and Saturn), the pressure is about 100 bar, in line with the specifica-tions of high-end deep divers watches (although the cor-responding temperatures are much higher in deep plan-etary atmospheres, as they can reach up to 400-480°C).

We also found that the mitigation approaches for these extreme environments are very similar, which will be dis-cussed in the following section.

Project concePt & design considerAtions

Our Venus Watch 1.0 concept explores how the latest technologies, may these be terrestrial or space related, could influence the art world, including visual industrial design, visual arts, and transference of complex informa-tion to the audience.

Project concePt

Inspiration from the above discussed planetary missions and technologies provided a starting point for our watch concept design. Our objective was to use the watch anal-ogy to link space exploration practices and concepts with a simple terrestrial object, namely a watch, in the most relatable way. As a result, the Venus Watch 1.0 project may help to educate the reader about the complexities and challenges of planetary exploration and environmental extremes both at planetary surfaces and on Earth; high-light new manufacturing techniques; and explain the sur-prising similarities between functional space-based and

terrestrial objects, through the language of art and design.

For the first version of our Venus Watch we decided to make a waterproof analog watch prototype that resists up to 100 bars—which corresponds to the pressure environ-ments experienced by deep planetary probes on Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn—using a 3D printed titanium body, sapphire crystal for the glass, nylon parachute ribbon for the watchband, and a laser cut 2D woven carbon fiber sheet for the face.

Watch Functionality

In support of their communication systems, planetary probes utilize precision timekeeping (for example, ultra-stable oscillators), while terrestrial watches rely on high precision movements.

Thus, watches can be described as small precision-built devices, with a primary functionality of timekeeping. There are different levels of additional complexities as-sociated with them, which can be discussed under the collective name of “complications”. Complications then bifurcate to features and functions. Features may include: water resistance; a complication showing the various moon phases; a cut out or skeleton dial; and could even aim to counter the effect of gravity through the tourbil-lon complication. Functions could include: chronographs with multiple sub-dials; a perpetual calendar; a tachym-eter around the rim of the watch to calculate speed over a given distance; and alarms. Specialty watches can also include other sensors, for example to measure pressure and temperature, and the battery or spring charge.

Figure 1: Artist’s impression of the Pioneer-Venus Multi-probe Mission, showing the carrier, 1 large probe & 3 small probes.

Figure 2: Artist’s impression of the Pioneer-Venus Probe with the front aeroshell.

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Diver watches are water proof to various degrees of depth, where the design accounts for increased pressure and wa-ter tightness. At the same time the winding mechanism, push buttons, and the various sensors require penetrations through the housing, which are then mitigated with seals, screw down caps and other methods.

Our design for the Venus Watch 1.0 concept uses an ana-log battery powered movement, compared to digital or mechanical movements. This provided sufficient func-tionality and bounded the volumetric accommodation needs for this prototype watch. At this stage selecting an expensive movement was not necessary to demonstrate feasibility.

Another simplification of our design includes neglecting the high temperature environment encountered by the planetary probes. Making the watch temperature toler-ant would require suitable seal materials, and appropriate cooling, since none of the rubber or plastic seals would survive Venus-like temperatures. Regarding design con-siderations for temperature control, planetary probes may employ either passive cooling using phase-change ma-terials, or active cooling, where a coolant is circulated in channels. While 3D printing lends itself to designing complex channels into the housing, such added complex-ities would have diverted from the minimalist approach for the design of the watch housing and consequently was not used for the Venus Watch 1.0 concept. Furthermore, making the prototype watch tolerant to 480°C was con-sidered beyond the scope of this prototype. (These issues could be addressed in the next version of the design.)

aesthetics

The Venus Watch 1.0 design, primarily done by Julian Melchiorri, was inspired by the Pioneer-Venus multi-probe mission to Venus, and the Galileo mission which delivered a probe to Jupiter.

These missions were mass, volume and power con-strained, which is typical for every space mission. Con-sequently, reducing the mass by reducing the material requirements through design, and using a strong and light material, like titanium, was an essential consideration. This enhanced the soul of the watch, which was further emphasized by keeping the exterior surfaces at their orig-inal manufactured state without additional post-finish.

The original Pioneer-Venus probes were manufactured out of solid titanium blocks. In turn, due to advancements in additive manufacturing techniques, commonly known as 3D printing technology, thin and complex internal and external structures were designed and created for our de-sign, resulting in light, yet strong metal parts, echoing the requirements of past, present and future space missions.

Consequently, the beauty of this watch comes directly

form its essentiality, rough finish, and from the use of the latest manufacturing innovation equipment to create it.

The shape of the housing has been created by starting from the watch movement, which defined the lower part of the bounding volume. This was followed by structural calculation and pressure studies, which resulted in small supporting structures. For better comfort a bottom plate was added and the housing was raised from the wrist. This bottom plate also accommodated connections to the wristbands. The raised housing and the supporting struc-tures reflected back on the Venera lander design (Fig.3 and Fig.4), because both designs followed similar design processes, addressing essential and critical limits driven by form and function.

The design does not include a typical detachable back cover for the case. Instead, the upper and lower cases are secured together by four stainless steel micro screws, enabling an easy access to the internal components for easy repair. During the initial assembly, the movement is inserted from the top, one layer below the woven car-bon sheet faceplate. Similarly, both the Pioneer-Venus probes and the Galileo probe had designs with top and

Figure 3: Artist’s impression of the Venera lander.

Figure 4: CG rendering of the Venus Watch housing reflecting on Venera landers.

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bottom halves, secured together with screws and pressure proofed with seals.

A matte woven carbon fiber sheet decorates the internal face of the watch and affects the aesthetics by creating interesting light reflection patterns. The sheet is laser cut to exact dimensions.

As another form of artistic expression, a computer graph-ics (CG) rendering of the concept, using the original CAD models, is shown in Fig.5.

As another connection to past planetary missions, the watchband is made out of nylon, the same type as used for parachute ribbons. Further interest in this material came from its extremely fine thread and weaving, provid-ing both softness, strength and durability. We experiment-ed with different treatments and thread pattern alterations in order to create an innovative aesthetic that will fit with the rest of the Venus Watch 1.0 concept.

Materials

To mitigate in situ planetary extreme environments, plan-etary probes and landers typically employ a number of high performance materials, such as:

• Titanium: a high strength and lightweight metal that is used for the probe’s housing, which acts as a pres-sure vessel during the atmospheric descent and on the surface, while protecting the scientific payload inside; titanium is used on the P-V probes, and on the Galileo probe;

• Sapphire (or diamond): for the windows, provides a distortion free optical path between the sensors inside the probe and the observed outside environment; Sap-phire windows were used on the three Pioneer-Venus small probes;

• Carbon-phenolic (C-P): for the aeroshell’s ablative thermal protection system (TPS), protects the probe

inside the aeroshell from the high entry heat flux dur-ing the atmospheric entry; C-P was used on both the Pioneer-Venus and the Galileo missions;

• Kevlar or nylon: are routinely used on space missions, including for parachutes, ribbons and strings, because of their durability;

Due to the similarities between terrestrial and planetary environments, the same materials could be used for diver watches as for planetary probes. Namely:

• Titanium: (or stainless steel) for the housing of the watch;

• Artificial sapphire crystal and high precision miner-al glass: as commercial off the shelf (COTS) parts, manufactured on industrial scales. Instead of relying on expensive natural crystals; these crystals come at incremental diameters and thicknesses; while these are inexpensive for watches, they can be more costly for thicker and larger diameter probe windows, where the optical performance is also a key requirement;

• Woven carbon materials: with two options were con-sidered for the dial/face of the watch: first, 3D woven carbon fiber sheets (8 inches by 5 inches by 0.25 inches thick), and second, a thin 2D carbon fiber sheet. These sheets were contributed by Bally Ribbon Mills, Bally, PA, USA, since they have the capacity for this type of weaving. The laser cut 2D face plates—which were used on the watch—are shown in the upper image of Fig.6. The 3D woven panels were resin impregnated at another research laboratory and shown in the lower image of Fig.6. While the 3D woven sheet resembled the TPS materials used on aeroshells, it was found to be too thick for the watch face and consequently not used;

• Nylon: for the watch band; several meters of a para-chute ribbon—MIL-T-5608 TyII Class E, ~0.02 inches

Figure 5: Artist’s impression of the Venus Watch 1.0 concept, showing the top and bottom cases, crystal, woven carbon face sheet, the minute and hour hands, and screws holding the top and bottom cases. Rendered in Blender3D from the CAD models.

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Figure 6: Laser cut 2D woven carbon sheets (top); 3D woven carbon sheet, impregnated with resin (bottom).

Figure 7: MIL-T-5608 TyII Class E parachute ribbon, used for the watch bands.

Figure 8: Commercial off the shelf (COTS) parts; Top row, from left: Magic Seal; screw in crown; digital movements; artificial sapphire crystals; high precision mineral glass. Bottom row from left: more digital movements; O-rings; extra screw in crowns for water tightness.

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thick by 2 inches wide—was donated to our project by Pioneer Aerospace, Windsor, CT, USA (Fig.7);

Other commercial off the shelf (COTS) watch parts were purchased from a watch part supplier [Otto Frei, 2013]. These parts are shown in Fig.8, and included:

• Digital movements: due to cost considerations we have used an inexpensive digital Japanese movements, since the movement was not considered a major driver for the project. This simple movements is without date or stop watch functions;

• O-rings: these are accommodated in grooves designed into the top and bottom housing of the watch, and compressed on both sides between the glass and the housing parts for pressure tightness.

• Screw-down crown system: was used to make the watch pressure/waterproof around the winding crown;

• Watch hands: for showing the hours and minutes;

ManuFacturing

The materials considered for the watch echoed the mate-rials used on past planetary probes, however, the manu-facturing processes differed. Over the past decades there have been significant advancements in material sciences and manufacturing techniques. For example:

• Sapphires are now artificially produced, they are inex-pensive, and routinely used in watches;

• Complex metal shapes could be produced using 3D printing with various additive manufacturing tech-niques employing either synthetic materials or metals.

• For the face of the watch, the 2D woven carbon sheet was laser cut to the appropriate diameter and used in the watch.

Through the Venus Watch 1.0 project we employed new and innovative additive manufacturing technologies in support of a new functionality and aesthetics. We have found that 3D printing is still largely unexplored within the field of horology.

In producing the housing, three types of additive manu-facturing techniques were used. Example 3D printed parts and printing equipment are shown and discussed below.

stereolithograPhy (sla)The first set of parts was produced using stereolithogra-phy, where a computer-controlled laser drew the shape of the object onto the surface of liquid plastic (Fig.9). This laser printing technique produced the highest qual-ity parts, however, the material was found to be too soft (Fig.10).

electron BeaM Melting (eBM)A second set was printed using Electron Beam Melting.

This solid freeform fabrication method produces fully dense metal parts, from metal powder. The produced tita-nium parts exhibit the characteristics of the target mate-rial. EBM machines (Fig.11), just like other 3D printers, use 3D CAD models and with an electron beam melt to-gether successive layers of powdered material. The Ar-cam EBM process creates the parts in vacuum and at high temperature. This relieves the stresses in the material, thus the properties are found to be better than those for cast parts. The process is well suited to manufacture parts out of reactive materials with a high affinity for oxygen, for example titanium. The parts produced with EBM are

Figure 10: SLA printed plastic parts.

Figure 9: Stereolithography (SLA) machine.

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shown in Fig.12. The more robust lower part produced the general shape, but the accuracy was lacking. The top housing was only partially formed. The parts looked po-rous, and resulted from the machine setup to print large-scale parts, thus not suitable to print these delicate watch-housing elements.

selective laser Melting (slM)Selective laser melting (SLM) is another additive man-ufacturing process that, uses 3D CAD data as a digital information source with a high powered laser beam (typi-cally an ytterbium fiber laser) to print 3D metal parts by fusing fine metallic powder layers together, similar to thousands of continuous welding seams. The machine and the first set of printed titanium parts are shown in Fig.13 and Fig.14. These parts were made out of titanium, and in the progression of 3D printed samples looked the most promising, yet didn’t produce the needed accuracy. Subsequently another set was printed, using stainless steel (Fig.15). This last set matched the required surface finish, without the requirement of post processing. The only shortcoming was that the parts had slightly smaller dimensions. While these were still suitable to accommo-date the movement, they were slightly smaller than the sapphire and mineral crystals, which were purchased according to the CAD model’s dimensions. Purchasing slightly smaller crystals for the watches to be assembled easily solved the problem.

Figure 11: ARCAM EBM S400 for Electron Beam Melting.

Figure 12: 3D printed titanium parts (top and bottom housing / upside and down views); this EBM printing method

didn’t produce the desired parts with the right accuracy.

Figure 13: M2 Cusing SLM machine, built by Concept Laser, a division of Hoffman Innovation Group of Lichtenfels, Germany.

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Assembled Venus WAtch 1.0 concePt The Pioneer-Venus and Galieo probes were made out of titanium, while the assembled watches are made out of titanium and stainless steel. One of the pre-assembled prototypes with its parts is shown in Fig.16. The parts include: the bottom and top housing; watch band; 2D la-ser cut carbon sheet face; O-rings; sapphire glass; move-ment; stem; one of the hands; screw in crown elements; and four micro screws. Two versions of watchbands were designed and produced. One was glued and another sawn (see Fig.17), demonstration two options to attach the band to the housing. For the watch face we used a laser cut 2D woven carbon sheet (see Fig.18). This pre-cision cutting method resulted in a perfect fit inside the

housing. (The resin impregnated 3D woven carbon sheet was considered for the display case (not shown), but not for the watch face, due to its substantial thickness, mak-ing it incompatible with the minimalist watch design.) For the watch movements we employed a simple COTS part, purchased cheaply from a watch parts supplier. The

Figure 16: Pre-assembled prototype with its parts.

Figure 14: SLM printed titanium parts; this sample 3D print didn’t provide the needed accuracy.

Figure 15: SLM printed stainless steel parts, used for the assembled Venus Watch 1.0 concept.

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movement—as well as the O-rings—fit perfectly in their designed cavities (see Fig.18). This demonstrates the ad-vantages of additive manufacturing, where complex ge-ometries can be achieved without complex post process-ing requirements. The second concept with the sawn band was assembled the same way, as shown in Fig.20. The watch fit comfortably on the wrist (Fig.21), and elevated away from the skin (Fig.22).Figure 17: Watch band options, blued (top) and sawn (bottom).

Figure 19: Movement and O-rings in place.

Figure 18: Watch face, using a laser cut 2D woven carbon sheet.

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Figure 20: Second prototype with the sawn band and the movement in place.

Figure 21: The watch fits comfortably on the wrist, as tested and reported by Julian.

Figure 22: Side view of the watch, elevating from the wrist.

In general, the Venus Watch 1.0 project achieved it origi-nal goal and provided both insights into and experience with additive manufacturing and demonstrated how com-plex designs can be translated to real objects. Further experiences with laser cutting, and textile manipulation helped to set the stage for the continuation, which will be briefly discussed later. It should be noted that the pri-mary purpose of the project learning and experimenta-tion. Consequently, the goal was not to generate a pol-ished showcase product at this stage. At the same time,

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we found the rough unpolished outcome of these proto-types aesthetically appealing. The finalized prototypes are shown in Fig.23.

discussions And conclusions

Over the past year we have designed and built the Venus Watch 1.0, through a typical Design activity. The design of the watch included background research into the plan-etary extreme environments; past and potential future planetary mission architectures; identifying suitable ma-terials and cross referencing them with materials used on planetary probes; studying the aesthetics of past planetary in situ missions and translating it to the watch; harmoniz-ing form to functionality (including the accommodation of the movement, seals for the winding stem and crown, and the sapphire-housing interface); designing the watch-band with various gluing and stitching methods; and assembling the prototype watch. In this sense Design, the “making of things”, is considered a distinctly sepa-rate field from Science and Humanities [Archer, 1978]. However, it is also crosscutting with Science by build on knowledge, based on exploring and understanding the world around us. Specifically, the environmental and ma-terial requirements are based on scientific observations and direct measurements. The connection to Humanities is linked to reflecting on the aesthetics of previous space-craft and diver watch designs. For example, the Venera landers were designed with a robust landing system, including a torus shaped crash pad, and connections to the pressure vessel, which housed the instruments in a protective environment. Our watch echoed this construct by raising the housing from the wrist with trusses. A flat plate provided better comfort on the wrist and reflected back on the lander resting on the Venusian surface.

When considering the Venus Watch 1.0 research project, its design elements address all three approaches discussed by [Frayling, 1993], namely performing research about design; research for design, and research through design.

The first category, research about design, was addressed by looking at other fields in Science and Humanities related to the environments experienced by a watch on Earth and probes in planetary environments; then looking at our understanding of the world around us; and drawing inspiration from other designs and aesthetics related to planetary probes, landers, and diver watches.

The second category, research through design, was per-formed in support of design. Specifically, we assessed the various materials, manufacturing methods, and additive manufacturing techniques to be used for all elements of the watch.

The third category, research through design, encompassed our project grounded research, which included: designing the watch; deciding on the elements to be manufactured, or made, or purchased as COTS parts; and the final step of assembling it.

The project proved to be an ideal academic exercise un-der the Royal College of Art, Innovation Design Engi-neering program. It allowed us to use artistic and design approaches to communicate the complexities of space exploration through the form and function of a com-mon terrestrial object and in the process highlight the advancements in manufacturing innovation over the past decades. Specifically, both planetary probes and diver watches could experience pressure conditions to a similar level (i.e., up to about 100 bar). Consequently, they can be used for exploring extreme environments in the world around us, may it be on Earth at the depths of the oceans,

Figure 23: Finalized assembled prototype watches

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or in planetary atmospheres and at surfaces. Mitigating these environments requires targeted solutions. Thus, our project also conveys the message that while we encoun-ter extreme environments everywhere in our universe, we have the capacity to find solutions, then design and build suitable technologies to mitigate them.

Through an easily accessible approach, this project re-lates common human experiences utilizing a watch de-sign to more abstract space exploration concepts.

As an added benefit from an academic point of view is that it provided cross-pollination between RCA’s School of Innovation Design Engineering and School of Material programs by creative collaboration between postgraduate researchers.

Finally, the project provided an excellent opportunity to try out a broad set of additive manufacturing methods, and identify strength and weaknesses in connections with the present design.

In summary, the main objectives for the first phase of the project included an educational element, which allowed us to introduce planetary extreme environments and past missions to the reader, and provided design experience to the authors through the prototyping cycle, and included experience with additive manufacturing and textiles. Po-tential spin-out and spin-in between diver watches and space technology was not a key consideration at this stage, although it demonstrated the feasibility of produc-ing complex parts for horology through additive manu-facturing. (Similar manufacturing demonstrations for rocket nozzles and other spacecraft parts have been al-ready demonstrated at space agencies and in industry.) Following this first stage, the next version may explore aspects of the delivered value and commercialization.

Future directions

This Venus Watch 1.0 project was the first step towards a final design. It provided an excellent learning opportunity to gain experience with 3D printing technologies, and a chance to work through the design life cycle process from ideation to final assembly of the watch and communicat-ing the project results to a broad audience.

Over the next year we are planning to continue the project with Phase 2, where we would advance the concept by redesigning and potentially testing the watch in relevant high pressure and temperature environments. These sub-sequent tests could be performed at NASA’s Venus En-vironmental Test Chamber at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSGC). Testing of the watch movement could be either included or not. On one hand, not test-ing it would be prudent, since these mechanical systems, electronics, and batteries would not survive the high temperatures without a dedicated thermal management

system. On the other hand, testing with an assured fail-ure could be used as an ideal demonstration of the chal-lenges faced when designing for planetary extreme en-vironmental conditions. Other testing ideas for the watch from a terrestrial-relevant environmental testing angle could include deep sea testing, down to 1000 meters (corresponding to 100 bar). For this, the watch could be lowered from a boat. This would demonstrate cross cut-ting pressure environments between Earth and planetary destinations. A somewhat more far reaching, but feasible testing approach could be lowering the watch into a black smoker near Hawaii, to a depth of about 1-2 km, and a temperature of ~350°C. (Finding black smokers at depth of 1 km would be the right pressure level, and reasonable temperature for a Venus comparison.) This type of testing could be arranged in collaboration with the University of Hawaii, providing additional cross-university collabora-tions. Further details on the design, simplifications, test-ing and other logistics could be worked out at a later time as the project progresses to its subsequent stage.

Alternatively, we may take a new direction with the de-sign, move away from the planetary analogy and focus on new functionality and aesthetics.

Once we converge on a final design, we will assess pro-ductions and development cycles, and supply chain re-lated options, which may lead to increased production volumes and a commercially available product.

AcknoWledgements

The authors wish to thank Leon Bryn from Bally Rib-bon Mills for the woven carbon samples, Allen Wit-kowski from Pioneer Aerospace for the parachute ribbon samples, Cho Sungbin from RCA’s School of Material for his collaboration on the watchband, and the support and advise from Ken Cooper, Ashley Hall, LaNetra Tate, Miles Pennington, Mairead Stackpoole, Karen Taminger, Ethiraj Venkatapathy, and Niki Werkheiser.

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Balint T.S., Cutts, J.A., Kolawa, E.A., 2008b. “Mission Trades to Explore Saturn with Probes”, 37th CO-SPAR Scientific Assembly, Symposium B06: Scien-tific investigations from Planetary Probes and Aerial Platforms, Montreal, Canada, July 13-20

Balint, T.S., Cutts, J.A., Kwok, J.H., 2008c. “Overview of Flagship Class Venus Mission Architectures” 6th International Planetary Probe Workshop (IPPW-6), Atlanta, GA, June 23-27

Balint, T.S., Kolawa, E.A., Cutts, J.A., Belz, A.P., Peter-son, C.E., 2007a. “Extreme Environments Technolo-gies for Probes to Venus and Jupiter” Invited paper at the 5th International Planetary Probe Workshop, Bordeaux, France, June 23-30

Balint, T.S., Kowalkowski, T.D., Folkner, W.M., 2007b. “Overview of Key Saturn Probe Mission Trades”, 5th International Planetary Probe Workshop, Bordeaux, France, June 23-30

Balint, T.S., Kolawa, E.A., Cutts, J.A., 2006. “Mitigating Extreme Environments for In-Situ Jupiter and Venus Missions”, Paper number: IAC-06-C2.P.2.07, 57th International Astronautical Congress, IAC-06, Va-lencia, Spain, October 2-6

Balint, T.S., Richard E. Young, R.E., Venkatapathy, E., Spilker, T.R., Kolawa, E.A., and Participants of the JDEP Study, 2005. “State of Affairs for Jupiter Deep Entry Probes”, in Proc. of the 3rd International Plan-etary Probe Workshop, Anavyssos, Attica, Greece, 27 June - 1 July

Balint, T.S. & Whiffen, G.J. & Spilker, T.R., 2003. “Mix-ing Moons and Atmospheric Entry Probes: Chal-lenges and Limitations of a Multi-Objective Science Mission to Jupiter”, Proc. 54th International Astro-nautical Congress of the International Astronautical Federation, the International Academy of Astronau-tics, and the International Institute of Space Law, Ses-sion: Q.2 Solar System Exploration, in category: Sci-ence and Exploration, Ref. number IAC-03-Q.2.04, Bremen, Germany, 29th September – 3rd October (Refereed: 9 pages – www.aiaa.org; © 2003 Interna-tional Astronautical Federation; 2003 AIAA Meeting Papers On Disc, Volume 8 Number 1 Conference Proceeding Series, 8 © 2003, ISBN: 1563476118)

Chassefière, E., O. Korablev, T. Imamura, K. H. Baines, C.F. Wilson, D.V. Titov, K.L. Aplin, T. Balint, J.E, Blamont, C.G. Cochrane, Cs. Ferencz, F. Ferri, M. Gerasimov, J.J. Leitner, J. Lopez-Moreno, B. Marty, M. Martynov, S. Pogrebenko, A. Rodin, J.A. White-way, L.V. Zasova and the EVE team,, 2008. “Europe-an Venus Explorer: An in situ mission to Venus using a balloon platform”, Advances in Space Research (a COSPAR publication), 0273-1177/$36.00Ó2009CO-SPAR, Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.asr.2008.11.025

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Cutts, J.A., Balint, T.S., Chassefiere, E., Kolawa, E.A., 2007. “Chapter 13: Technology Perspectives in the Future Exploration of Venus”, Chapman Monograph – Exploring Venus as a Terrestrial Planet, Publisher: AGU, Editors: L.W. Esposito, E.R. Stofan, R.E. Cra-vens, ISBN 978-0-87590-441-2

Frayling, C., 1993. “Research in Art and Design”, RCA Papers No.1, Royal College of Art, London, UK

Kolawa, E., Balint, T.S., Birur, G. Brandon, E., Del Cas-tillo, L., Hall, J., Johnson, M., Kirschman, R., Manvi, R., Mojarradi, M., Moussessian, A., Patel, J., Pauken, M., Peterson, C., Whitacre, J., Martinez, E., Ven-kapathy, E., Newdeck, P., Okajie R., 2007, “Extreme Environment Technologies for Future Space Science Missions”, Technical Report JPL D-32832, National Aeronautical and Space Administration, Washington, D.C., September 19

NASA, Venus Flagship Mission Study, 2009, Website: http://vfm.jpl.nasa.gov, Viewed: May 11, 2013

Otto Frei Watch Parts, San Francisco, CA, USA, Website: http://www.ofrei.com, Viewed on July 21, 2013

Wercinski, P., Allen, G., Tauber, M., Laub, B., Chen, Y.K., Venkatapathy, E., Balint, T.S., 2005. “Jupiter Deep Probe Design - Entry/Descent System Challenges and Trades”, in Proc. of the 3rd International Plan-etary Probe Workshop, Anavyssos, Attica, Greece, 27 June - 1 July

making the venus concept watch 1.0

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