Jun 7, 2018 03:57 AM
https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/nas...ncna879851
EXCERPT: For more than half a century, America's human space program has flip-flopped between two long-range goals: establishing a base on the moon or going deep and sending astronauts to Mars. But a group of aerospace engineers [...] has made a persuasive pitch for an unexpected third option: Venus.
The team has sketched out plans for and conducted small-scale tests of a blimp-like airship that would ferry a crew of two on a month-long expedition above the Venusian cloudtops. Their High-Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC) would culminate in the building of what the engineers describe as an aerial colony for "long-term atmospheric habitation and colonization" of the second rock from the sun.
They point out that Venus is the closest, most accessible planet in the solar system. It's nearly identical to Earth in size and mass [...] That statement might raise a few eyebrows. Day or night, temperatures on Venus hover around 850 degrees Fahrenheit, and the atmospheric pressure at the surface is a crushing 1,300 pounds per square inch. The silvery clouds that enshroud the planet consist of sulfuric acid. "Even in the [SyFy television] show "The Expanse," Venus is considered inhospitable enough to use as a dumping ground for an alien substance!" jokes Robert Grimm [...]
But go 30 miles above the Venusian surface, and the story is very different. Temperatures are a more tolerable 170 degrees F, and atmospheric pressure is similar to that on Earth. The corrosive clouds are tucked safely below, so there's ample solar energy shining down from above.
This is the sweet spot where HAVOC would set up the floating basecamp. "It opens up a strange, exciting, and even slightly terrifying way to live," Jones says. "It would be a challenging environment, but one that would bring opportunities we can't even imagine."
MORE: https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/nas...ncna879851
EXCERPT: For more than half a century, America's human space program has flip-flopped between two long-range goals: establishing a base on the moon or going deep and sending astronauts to Mars. But a group of aerospace engineers [...] has made a persuasive pitch for an unexpected third option: Venus.
The team has sketched out plans for and conducted small-scale tests of a blimp-like airship that would ferry a crew of two on a month-long expedition above the Venusian cloudtops. Their High-Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC) would culminate in the building of what the engineers describe as an aerial colony for "long-term atmospheric habitation and colonization" of the second rock from the sun.
They point out that Venus is the closest, most accessible planet in the solar system. It's nearly identical to Earth in size and mass [...] That statement might raise a few eyebrows. Day or night, temperatures on Venus hover around 850 degrees Fahrenheit, and the atmospheric pressure at the surface is a crushing 1,300 pounds per square inch. The silvery clouds that enshroud the planet consist of sulfuric acid. "Even in the [SyFy television] show "The Expanse," Venus is considered inhospitable enough to use as a dumping ground for an alien substance!" jokes Robert Grimm [...]
But go 30 miles above the Venusian surface, and the story is very different. Temperatures are a more tolerable 170 degrees F, and atmospheric pressure is similar to that on Earth. The corrosive clouds are tucked safely below, so there's ample solar energy shining down from above.
This is the sweet spot where HAVOC would set up the floating basecamp. "It opens up a strange, exciting, and even slightly terrifying way to live," Jones says. "It would be a challenging environment, but one that would bring opportunities we can't even imagine."
MORE: https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/nas...ncna879851
![[Image: 5072166-6279161-image-a-1_1539636161275.jpg]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/10/15/21/5072166-6279161-image-a-1_1539636161275.jpg)