CNN | Imagine
a blimp city floating 30 miles above the scorching surface of Venus -- a
home for a team of astronauts studying one of the solar system's most
inhospitable planets.
NASA is
currently doing just that; floating a concept that could one day see a
30-day manned mission to Earth's closest planetary neighbor.
Eventually, the mission could involve a permanent human presence suspended above the planet.
Deep heat
Also
known as the morning star, and named after the goddess of love and
beauty because it shone the brightest of the five planets known to
ancient astronomers, Venus is a hot, sulphurous, hellish place whose
surface has more volcanoes than any other planet in the solar system.
With
a mean temperature of 462 degrees Celsius (863 degrees Fahrenheit), an
atmospheric pressure 92 times greater than Earth's and a cloud layer of
sulphuric acid, even probes to Venus have lasted little more than two
hours. Its surface is hot enough to melt lead and its atmospheric
pressure is the equivalent of diving a mile underwater.
But
above this cauldron of carbon dioxide at an altitude of 50km (30 miles)
scientists say the conditions are as close to Earth's as you'll find
anywhere in the solar system.
The
gravity at this altitude is only slightly lower than that of Earth, its
atmospheric pressure is similar and the aerospace provides enough
protection from solar radiation to make it no more dangerous than taking
a trip to Canada.
Creating HAVOC
Known at NASA as HAVOC
- High Altitude Venus Operational Concept - engineers and scientists
at the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA's Langley
Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, have been working on a preliminary
feasibility study on how robots and humans could make a Venus mission a
reality.
"The atmosphere of Venus is
an exciting destination for both further scientific study and future
human exploration," said aerospace engineer Christopher A. Jones of the
Space Mission Analysis Branch.
