What If We Build Cloud Cities on Venus?
If we are looking for a place to escape, our solar system contains a planet that looks a bit like Earth, although we do not know much about it. There could even be microbial life. No, it's not Mars, it's Venus.
Not only are Earth and Venus about the same size, but they also have identical interiors with partially liquid nuclei, coats, and scabs. Yet Venus happens to be the most hostile terrestrial planet in the solar system.
But if I told you that you can explore this hot planet without ever setting foot? Venus is not a place where you would like to land. Thanks to its dense atmosphere and its turtle-shaped rotation, the surface temperature of Venus remains at 462 ° C.
The atmospheric pressure of the planet is 92 times higher than that of the Earth. Because of this high pressure, everything that enters the atmosphere of Venus is immediately crushed before reaching the volcanic surface of the planet.
In such extreme weather conditions, it is too dangerous to try to land on Venus. But we would not need to go down there.
Above the dense layer of clouds, Venus is not so bad. The atmospheric pressure is similar to that of the Earth. The gravity is slightly lower. The temperature reaches 75 ° C. Although it is a little hot, it remains feasible.
How could we do it? Well, do not start small. According to NASA's plan to explore Venus, we would send two spacecraft to our destination.
Venus is the closest planet to Earth. That's why it would only take 100 days for the craft to arrive there.
One of the ships would be run by robots. He would carry a special airship that would fly into the atmosphere upon his arrival.
This airship would begin to inflate with helium. As helium is lighter than air, the airship floats, gravitating around 52 km above the planet.
The second spacecraft would have a crew of two. It would be connected to the airship in orbit around Venus.
The crew would have 30 days to complete all environmental assessments. After that, they would come off the airship and start returning to Earth.
The return trip would take about 300 days due to the strong gravitational pull of the Sun. Even with that, the complete mission would not take more than 450 days.
After analyzing the information from the first mission, we would start planning our next trip to Venus. But this time, we will stay there longer.
The next crew would have a year to study the planet and its atmosphere. One of the things they would look for on Venus would be life. Scientists believe that because microbes on Earth can thrive in acidic conditions surrounded by sulfur, there could be life in the Venusian atmosphere.
After the end of the second mission, we would prepare to stay on Venus permanently. We would begin by building cloud cities in which future generations would live and hopefully continue to explore the space and its origins.
They could even solve the pressure problem. From there, they terraform the planet and settle on the Venusian surface, formerly hostile.
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