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| Nasa planning to build cloud cities in airships above Venus | Nasa planning to build cloud cities in airships above Venus |
| (about 17 hours later) | |
| Despite the attention heaped on Mars, Venus might actually seem a better bet for space exploration and a new planet for us to eventually live on. It’s nearer to us, a more similar size and has a density and chemical composition more like Earth — but it’s also completely inhospitable. | Despite the attention heaped on Mars, Venus might actually seem a better bet for space exploration and a new planet for us to eventually live on. It’s nearer to us, a more similar size and has a density and chemical composition more like Earth — but it’s also completely inhospitable. |
| Venus is far hotter than Earth, at around 462 degrees Celsius, and an atmospheric pressure over 92 times greater. It’s also got huge volcanoes and an acidic cloud layer. Even probes that have been sent to the planet have burnt up and died shortly after arriving. | Venus is far hotter than Earth, at around 462 degrees Celsius, and an atmospheric pressure over 92 times greater. It’s also got huge volcanoes and an acidic cloud layer. Even probes that have been sent to the planet have burnt up and died shortly after arriving. |
| So, instead, scientists at the Nasa Langley Researcher Center have proposed an alternative — a city in the clouds, built using huge balloons that look like passenger airships. They would carry two astronauts on a 30-day mission to explore the planet. | |
| The project, named High Altitude Venus Operational Concept, or Havoc, is just a proposal at the moment, designed by the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate (SACD) at the centre. But the centre hopes to keep working on it until it is ready to actually take astronauts to the planet, or just off it. | The project, named High Altitude Venus Operational Concept, or Havoc, is just a proposal at the moment, designed by the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate (SACD) at the centre. But the centre hopes to keep working on it until it is ready to actually take astronauts to the planet, or just off it. |
| While the conditions on Venus keep humans from venturing down there, staying about 30 miles above the planet would keep astronauts in conditions mostly similar to Earth. The atmospheric pressure is comparable, and gravity is just slightly lower. The temperature is warm but the ship would be able to keep the astronauts cool enough. | While the conditions on Venus keep humans from venturing down there, staying about 30 miles above the planet would keep astronauts in conditions mostly similar to Earth. The atmospheric pressure is comparable, and gravity is just slightly lower. The temperature is warm but the ship would be able to keep the astronauts cool enough. |
| Clouds on Venus | Clouds on Venus |
| The challenges for the mission would be getting the airship to Venus — and then, since it will be wrapped up, inflating it there. Before it is used scientists will also have to be confident that the ship and the solar panels that will power it can withstand the sulphuric acid in the atmosphere and the other strain it will be put under while it floats above the planet. | The challenges for the mission would be getting the airship to Venus — and then, since it will be wrapped up, inflating it there. Before it is used scientists will also have to be confident that the ship and the solar panels that will power it can withstand the sulphuric acid in the atmosphere and the other strain it will be put under while it floats above the planet. |
| But if they can work on the technology, “missions to the Venusian atmosphere can expand humanity’s future in space”, the SACD says. | But if they can work on the technology, “missions to the Venusian atmosphere can expand humanity’s future in space”, the SACD says. |