NASA Could Send Giant Airships To Venus To Create Cloud Cities
While most of the talk around future space exploration is focused on Mars, NASA could also be planning a future mission to the skies of Venus.
NASA’s Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate (SACD) department which studies the the viability of future missions, developed a concept back in 2014 that involves travelling to the Venusian atmosphere in giant airships.
Venus is actually closer to Earth than Mars but with a surface temperature of 462°C, it’s a little too warm for humans.
However, the skies above the planet are thought to have similar pressure, density, gravity and radiation protection to the surface of Earth.
One of NASA’s new retro style space travel posters for Venus (NASA)
The High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC) would involve a 30-day crewed mission into Venus’s atmosphere though NASA would need to work out a way of protecting the space-based airships from the sulphuric acid in the air.
If successful, and it’s a big if, ‘cloud cities’ could be built in the sky.
With further leaps in technology needed to make the idea possible, the airship plan is still very much at concept stage though it’s an interesting glimpse at what NASA could do in the future.
Image credit: NASA
Via: Cosmos Up
