When most individuals speak about sending individuals past Earth, they’ve one in every of two locations in thoughts. The primary is the Moon, which is beautiful and all, however actually a really boring place. The opposite is Mars, which is nearly shut sufficient for a crew to achieve, rocky sufficient for them to land on, and with quite a lot of effort is perhaps liveable sufficient for them to outlive on.
This text will argue for a 3rd choice: Venus.
I can virtually hear you laughing. If Mars is barely liveable, then Venus is, properly, a hellhole. Temperatures on the floor routinely soar into the a whole lot of levels, clouds of sulphuric acid swirl by means of its environment, and intense pressures crush something that dares land there.
When a Soviet probe visited in 1982, it solely lasted for about two hours earlier than it perished within the brutal situations. And that’s the file. Nothing we’ve constructed has endured the hell of Venus for longer.
But there are causes to noticeably take into consideration Venus as a vacation spot for astronauts. One, put merely, is that it’s nearer and simpler to achieve than another planet. If we need to take a look at our endurance expertise and our capability to fly past Earth for any prolonged time frame, then Venus provides a superb proving floor.
Alongside that, nonetheless, there’s a portion of Venus that’s surprisingly Earthlike. As a substitute of focusing on its floor, we may ship astronauts or different probes to the planet’s higher environment. Right here, about fifty kilometres above the floor, temperatures are far more cheap. The air stress resembles that of Earth’s floor, as does gravity. And importantly, Venus’ environment nonetheless gives excessive safety towards the Solar’s radiation.
Put collectively, this makes the Venusian higher environment some of the Earth-like locations recognized past, properly, Earth itself. And theoretically, some have mused, people may pay a go to. An airship positioned there, for instance, would gently traverse the skies of Venus, providing an opportunity to stay and examine round one other world.
