Venus' environment poses a huge threat to common electronic devices, making it really hard to collect, process and store data. One way to bypass this trouble is to run away from electronics as much as possible and rely on mechanical approaches to those devices.

Our idea is to use well explored concepts of compliant mechanics, MEMS technology and some very resilient electronics components to build a MEMS mechanical memory which uses minimal amounts of energy and can withstand harsh environments and loads.

First, to store digital data a way to code binary states is needed, in the mechanical world of compliant mechanisms this can be achieved with bistable mechanisms. This bistable mechanism comprises a spring and a mass, is such way that it can only stay in one of 2 positions when a force is aplied at the mass.

The Mnemonix chip will use electrostatic forces to actuate the bit mechanism. Both to store and to delete data, as done in other MEMS devices, such as mass oscillators.

The sensing part is achieved by means of capacitance measurements. The mass is design with fingers that fits into crevices made on the case side of the mechanism, alowing it to penetrate more or less as it moves from one state to another.

By reviewing GEER articles provided by NASA at the technical reports server's website we understood that SiC or GaN based components are the real contendants to be responsible for the electronics part of the memory, taking care of routing and addressing the memory elements.