Lando Calrissian Approved!

While not technically an Earth aircraft project but still something that flies within an atmosphere. NASA is looking at ideas of how to create a permanent floating outpost in the upper atmosphere of Venus. A veritable cloud city, where experiments and research could be performed on Venus as well as allow humanity to gain experience in creating other settlements of this type on other planets.



The trick, and probably the deal breaker, in this idea is to try and find funding for an ambitious plan such as this with NASA's sights set squarely on Mars missions. Venus however would be an easier and cheaper target to get to. Venus is aprox. 8 million miles closer to Earth at closest approach than Mars is an average.



...An idea I think Lando would get behind...



It may be interesting to some on this forum as well that this isn't the first time we have heard about large permanently manned colonies in the upper atmosphere

io9.com... low

The Delta-V required for a flight to Mars vs. Venus is actually pretty similar. Distance isn't as much of a factor as you might think when you're calculating orbital insertions and whatnot when it comes to cost.

a reply to: ScientificRailgun

True.
I was thinking more along the lines of time spent in transit for the human occupants. Longer duration missions would require more supplies for the crew and more initial energy to get those supplies aloft.

a reply to: Sammamishman

Very good point. I concede that! Though, we would need materials that could withstand the very corrosive atmosphere of Venus. I wonder if there has been research into that.

Star and Flag for this thread Samm! Pretty cool idea. Now to see if we an get them to name it the Besbin Facility.

Men are from Mars, women are from Venus. Sounds about right:

Mars: barren, cold...

Venus: Hot, corrosive, lots of pressure...

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Hah. What an analogy.

You could also say they we're also like Venus in that we're beautiful to look at, but dangerous to approach!

Rawr.

a reply to: Sammamishman

What about shielding from solar storms?

a reply to: Nickn3

I believe they still have some atmosphere above them to shield them from solar radiation. They are in the upper atmosphere but not orbital. On top of that they would have the balloon above them to shield along with the craft they were living in.

originally posted by: Sammamishman
a reply to: Nickn3

I believe they still have some atmosphere above them to shield them from solar radiation. They are in the upper atmosphere but not orbital. On top of that they would have the balloon above them to shield along with the craft they were living in.

Didn't the probes sent there get disintegrated rather rapidly from the caustic environment?

a reply to: TinfoilTP

Disintegrated is a rough word, but we have had probes land on venus. I think the main problem was the intense atmospheric pressure causing components of the probes to fail, though the caustic particles and acids in the atmosphere likely played a role in that as well.

a reply to: TinfoilTP

At the surface it is extremely hazardous. The concept here is for habitats that float above the hazards and high enough so the atmospheric pressure is manageable.

originally posted by: Sammamishman
a reply to: TinfoilTP

At the surface it is extremely hazardous. The concept here is for habitats that float above the hazards and high enough so the atmospheric pressure is manageable.

Above the planet wide cloud cover of acid? Is that possible, wouldn't all atmosphere everywhere there be caustic?

Cool concept... up above the terrible pressure and most of the acidic elements... and if that allusion you referenced about alleged stable platforms in the atmosphere (the leak from Astr0 about the secret space force for those who haven't read that info) is true, then rather "easy."

And even IF that meme is erroneous, old-fashioned balloons would work, too!

Though if it all went down due to a meteor (*pop*) that would be a long time to think before the pressure imploded you... but what a way to go!

a reply to: Sammamishman

FANTASTIC. Love it.

a reply to: Baddogma

Yeah, it wouldn't be the most pleasant of rides. I image very similar to being trapped in a sinking submarine where the ocean happened to be made of acid.

...and yes that is what I was alluding to.

Look, I wanted to flag this thread simply because it had Lando Calrissian in the title but my conscience made me read the whole thing first.

Glad I did...so dang cool! S&F!

originally posted by: ScientificRailgun
a reply to: Sammamishman

Very good point. I concede that! Though, we would need materials that could withstand the very corrosive atmosphere of Venus. I wonder if there has been research into that.

There has been some thought put into it. I read something about an apoxy 'paint' type cover being considered. I thought the atmosphere high up where they would be comfortable was only slightly corrosive however, not very corrosive.

going to be mining Tibana gas