A team of scientists from NASA’s Langley Research Center has devised a novel exploration program aimed at sending manned missions to Venus , the closest planet to Earth.
Although both worlds are similar in size, mass, density and gravity – in fact, in this sense, they are much more similar than Mars and Earth -, under the thick cover of sulfuric acid clouds that hides the surface of Venus, this planet It is a real hell under enormous pressure , about 90 times more than ours.
The huge greenhouse effect in which it is submerged maintains its average temperature at about 464ºC , enough to melt lead. In its atmosphere, made up for the most part of carbon dioxide, gusts of hurricane winds blow, and its arid terrain is sculpted by volcanoes, ancient lava tongues, impact craters and, in general, by the traces of a past e intense tectonic activity.
Now, NASA has proposed that the first astronauts to travel there live in large airships 130 meters long filled with helium , in a way similar to airships, which would remain about 50 kilometers above the ground, where conditions are much more benign: a single atmosphere of pressure, an average temperature of 75ºC and an exposure to radiation similar to what they would experience in Canada.
The project, called HAVOC – acronym for High Altitude Venus Operational Concept – envisages the initial dispatch of a robotic probe into the atmosphere , which would be followed by a 30-day manned orbital mission. After her, the stays would last up to a year. It would then be studied whether it would be feasible to place a truly floating city permanently among the clouds of Venus.
However, the technicians of the space agency warn that, for the moment, it is an idea on paper , and that it is still necessary to analyze many questions before starting it, from the way of dealing with the radiation that floods the environment interplanetary to the mode of deploying the vehicles.
Photo: NASA
