The extreme environment and low solar availability on the surface of Venus translate to significant power and thermal management challenges for landed missions. The longest mission to the surface of Venus was Venera 13, which operated for ~2 h. To increase duration and scientific scope, future missions will require power systems with greater specific energy to support active cooling. In-situ resource utilization (ISRU) combustion power systems have been proposed with lithium fuel and the ambient atmosphere (96.5% CO₂, 3.5% N₂) as the oxidizer. Conceptual designs have assumed batch reactors, which may vary in behavior as fuel is consumed and product concentration increases. As such, practically achievable reaction yield and system-specific energy are unknown. In this study, Li-CO₂ batch combustion tests were performed to determine such reaction parameters. Five tests were performed with different operating temperatures, heat delivery mechanisms, and approaches for contacting fuel and oxidizer. Fuel utilization was found to generally increase with bulk reactor temperature. At 500–750 °C, fuel utilization was only 40–60%. This increased to ~98% at 900 °C, corresponding to an effective specific energy of 25.6 ± 0.7 $\text{MJ}{\text{kg}}_{\text{Li}}^{-1}$ based on reactant and product enthalpies. However, endothermic decomposition of produced Li₂CO₃ occurs at higher temperatures, limiting specific energy. Based on fuel utilization, the lower temperature cases achieved 32–41 $\text{MJ}{\text{kg}}_{\text{Li},\text{reacted}}^{-1}$. Attempts to increase lower temperature reaction yield were unsuccessful in this investigation. Further development of approaches to improve yield could enhance the technical potential of lithium combustion power systems.

金星表面的极端环境和低太阳能利用率意味着对着陆任务提出了巨大的电力和热管理挑战。对金星表面的最长任务是金星13号，运行了约2小时。为了增加持续时间和科学范围，未来的任务将需要具有更大比能量的电力系统来支持主动冷却。原位资源利用率（ISRU）燃烧动力系统已经被提出与锂燃料和环境大气（96.5％CO ₂，3.5％N ₂）作为氧化剂。概念设计假设使用间歇式反应器，其行为可能会随着燃料的消耗和产品浓度的增加而变化。因此，未知可达到的反应产率和系统比能。在这项研究中，Li-CO_进行2次分批燃烧测试以确定这种反应参数。在不同的工作温度，传热机制以及接触燃料和氧化剂的方法下进行了五项测试。发现燃料利用率通常随着整体反应堆温度的升高而增加。在500–750°C时，燃料利用率仅为40–60％。在900°C时增加至〜98％，相当于25.6±0.7的有效比能$\text{MJ}{\text{公斤}}_{\text{里}}^{-\mathrm{1个}}$基于反应物和产物的焓。然而，所产生的Li ₂ CO _3的吸热分解发生在较高温度下，从而限制了比能。根据燃料利用率，低温情况达到32–41$\text{MJ}{\text{公斤}}_{\text{里}，\text{反应了}}^{-\mathrm{1个}}$。在该研究中未尝试增加低温反应的产率。进一步提高产量的方法可以增强锂燃烧动力系统的技术潜力。