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| Source: NASA Langley Research Center |
Hello, what have we here? NASA researchers at the Langley Research Center made a proposal to create a real cloud city above Venus. Venus has one of the most inhospitable surfaces of any planet in the solar system. It has an average mean temperature of 863 degrees Fahrenheit (hot enough to melt lead), atmospheric pressure equal to diving a mile underwater, and clouds made of sulphuric acid. All the probes we’ve ever sent to Venus have been destroyed within two hours. Not exactly a place we can send an astronaut to live.
But NASA has come up with a way to explore Venus by staying airborne. Fifty kilometers above the surface, pressure and gravity are within range of Earth, so NASA proposed what they call HAVOC or a High Altitude Venus Operational Concept. It’s a lighter-than-air rocket ship that would allow a two man crew to spend thirty days exploring and analyzing the planet’s atmosphere. Beyond that, we could even set up permanent cloud cities floating among the clouds. Looks like George Lucas’ Cloud City in Empire Strikes Back wasn’t that far-fetched, after all.
[Via CNN]
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<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="33824 ">5 Comments
Blimps? Oh the humanity!
Scary! I think I'll pass.
Maurice, Nigel, today would`ve been Heather O`Rourkes 39th birthday, she is a Goddess for all time.
I`ve always loved Heather as well Jervaise, happy birthday sweet angel, i cant believe that on the 1st of February it`ll be 27 years since she snuffed it.
The loss of Heather affected a lot of people very badly, it still does to this day, Heather was something so special and magical and irreplacable, she was a legend and THE most beautiful girl who ever lived.