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Human Missions to Venus: Madness? Maybe Not…
NASA is quietly considering sending astronauts to the Earth’s twin planet
Might we one day send astronauts to Venus? The idea is not quite as farfetched as it sounds. True, the surface of the planet is quite literally hell — temperatures soar to hundreds of degrees and the air is filled with deadly sulphuric acid — but the upper atmosphere is something quite different, almost Earth-like.
Plans to visit Venus have centred around two possible concepts. The first, considered seriously in the 1960s and 70s, would see astronauts fly by the planet, scanning it from close range but not sticking around for long. The second would have astronauts stay for longer, perhaps for years, living in giant airships floating high in the Venusian atmosphere.
That second approach is the one recently considered by NASA. Their plan suggested a long-term strategy to prepare Venus for human habitation, beginning with a series of experimental robotic missions to test the idea. Later humans would make the long voyage, staying on Venus for longer and longer periods.
At an altitude of fifty kilometres, roughly thirty miles, where they propose to fly their airships, Venus takes on surprisingly pleasant characteristics. The temperatures, hot enough to melt lead at the…
