Comparative selection of planetary aerial vehicle architectures for atmospheric exploration across solar system planets

Planetary aerial vehicles complement orbital and landed observations, but published concepts differ in mission scope and evidence maturity. The aim is to relate architecture selection to operating conditions and science requirements through a structured comparative review of Venus, Mars, Titan, and extended atmospheric cases. Five feasibility conditions are assessed before eight evidence-linked ordinal criteria. In two representative Titan scenarios, rotorcraft and a landing-capable airship remain conditional candidates for landed science; fixed-wing, balloon, and airship configurations remain conditional candidates for atmospheric profiling. The landed reference indices are 3.74 and 2.58, respectively. Profiling airship and fixed-wing indices are 2.89 and 2.79, becoming equal under uniform active weights. Seventeen category assignments remain unresolved, and neither scenario yields a unique leader across the corresponding outer domains. The comparison identifies requirements and evidence judgments that control the candidate set. Machine learning is assessed through sensing, onboard resources, decision authority, and fault response. The resulting shortlist supports conceptual design under declared priorities; exhaustive literature coverage, independent validation, and integrated mission qualification are not established.