Potential NASA Commercial Applications: The primary application for the Venus or Titan Exploratory (VORTEX) Gimbal will be for aerobot-based exploration missions on Venus and other planetary bodies. The VORTEX Gimbal will provide a reliable, lightweight, autonomous mechanism for pointing high gain antennas used in telecommunications. The VORTEX Gimbal mechanism will not be limited to this use case, however. This mechanism will be useful for any mission with instruments that require precision pointing and data throughput, such as sensors, imagers, solar arrays, and thrusters.
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