Why send humans to Venus is a brilliant idea

The popular science fiction of the early twentieth century described Venus as a kind of wonderland where pleasantly warm temperatures prevail, forests, swamps and even dinosaurs. In 1950, the Hayden Planetarium of the American Natural History Museum solicited reservations for the first space tourism mission, well before the modern day of Blue Origins, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. All you have to do is provide your address and tick the box corresponding to your preferred destination, which includes Venus.

Today, Venus is unlikely to be a dream destination for budding tourists. As many missions have revealed over the last few decades, rather than being a paradise, the planet is a hellish world with infernal temperatures, a corrosive toxic atmosphere and overwhelming surface pressure. Despite this, NASA is currently working on a conceptual mission with Venus, called the Operational Concept of High Altitude and Venus (HAVOC).

But how is such a mission possible? Temperatures on the surface of the planet (around 460 ° C) are actually warmer than Mercury, although Venus is about twice the distance from the sun. This point is greater than the melting point of many metals, including bismuth and lead, which can even fall as "snow" on the highest peaks. The surface is a sterile rocky landscape composed of vast plains of basaltic rocks dotted with volcanic features and several mountainous regions at the continental scale.

He is also geologically young, having suffered catastrophic resurfacing events. These extreme events are caused by an accumulation of heat beneath the surface, which eventually melts it, which releases heat and re-solidifies. Definitely a scary prospect for all visitors.

Hovering in the atmosphere

Fortunately, the idea of ​​NASA's new mission is not to land on an inhospitable surface, but to use the dense atmosphere as a base for exploration. No real date for a HAVOC-type mission has yet been announced publicly.

This mission is a long-term plan and will rely first on small test missions. Such a mission is currently possible with current technology. The plan is to use airships that can remain at altitude in the upper atmosphere for long periods.

Surprising as it may seem, the upper atmosphere of Venus is the most Earth-like place in the solar system. Between 50 km and 60 km altitude, pressure and temperature can be compared to regions of the lower terrestrial atmosphere.

The atmospheric pressure in the Venusian atmosphere at 55 km is about half that of the sea level pressure on the Earth. In fact, everything would be fine without a combination of pressure, because that is roughly equivalent to the atmospheric pressure you encountered at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. You should not isolate yourself, because the temperature varies between 20 and 30 ° C.

The atmosphere above this altitude is also dense enough to protect astronauts from ionizing radiation from space. The closer proximity of the sun provides an even greater abundance of available solar radiation than on Earth, which can be used to generate energy (about 1.4 times more).

The conceptual airship would float on the planet under the effect of the wind. It could usefully be filled with a mixture of breathable gas, such as oxygen and nitrogen, ensuring buoyancy. This is possible because the breathable air is less dense than the Venusian atmosphere and therefore would constitute a lifting gas.

The Venusian atmosphere is composed of 97% carbon dioxide, about 3% nitrogen and the trace state of other gases. It contains a pinch of sulfuric acid that forms dense clouds and contributes greatly to its visible brightness from Earth. In fact, the planet reflects about 75% of the sunlight. This highly reflective cloud layer exists between 45 km and 65 km, with a cloud of droplets of sulfuric acid below about 30 km. As such, an airship design should be resistant to the corrosive effect of this acid.

Fortunately, we already have the technology to solve the problem of acidity. Several commercially available materials, including teflon and a number of plastics, have high acid resistance and could be used for the outer shell of the airship. Considering all of these factors, you could possibly wander on a platform located outside the airship, carrying only your air supply and wearing a protective suit against chemicals.

Life on Venus?

The surface of Venus has been mapped by radar on the US mission Magellan. However, only a few places on the surface were visited by the series of Soviet probe Venera missions in the late 1970s. These probes returned the first images – and for the moment alone – of the Venusian surface. Certainly, the surface conditions seem totally inhospitable to any form of life.
The upper atmosphere is a different story though. Some types of extremophilic organisms already exist on Earth and could withstand atmospheric conditions at the altitude at which HAVOC would fly. Species such as Acidianus infernus can be found in the very acidic volcanic lakes of Iceland and Italy. Airborne microbes also exist in the clouds of the Earth. None of this proves that life exists in the Venusian atmosphere, but it is a possibility that could be studied by a mission like HAVOC.

The current climatic conditions and the composition of the atmosphere result from an uncontrolled greenhouse effect (an extreme greenhouse effect that can not be reversed), which has transformed the planet of a "twin" world "hospitable to the image of the Earth in its infancy. Although we do not currently expect the Earth to be subjected to a similar extreme scenario, this demonstrates that dramatic changes in global climate can occur when certain physical conditions occur.

By testing our current climate models using the extremes observed on Venus, we can more accurately determine how various climate forcing effects can lead to dramatic changes. Venus thus provides us with a means of testing the extremes of our current climate modeling, with all the inherent implications for the ecological health of our own planet.

We still know relatively little about Venus, who is our nearest planetary neighbor. In the end, learning how two very similar planets can have such a different past will help us understand the evolution of the solar system and perhaps even that of other star systems.

Related Links

Venus, named Venus High Altitude Operational Concept (HAVOC).

Venus Express News and Venusian Science

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"After Venus, impossible to exclude the possibility that other planets harbor life"

Washington DC (Sputnik) April 19, 2018

Scientists led by Sanjay Limaye have discovered that the atmosphere of Venus could be the scene of extraterrestrial life. The authors noted that moderate temperatures and pressures, as well as the chemical composition of the planet's clouds, could create an environment necessary for the maintenance of life. Sputnik spoke to Professor Sanjay Limaye.

Can you tell us in more detail how you noticed the dark patches in the clouds?

b> Sanjay Limaye *: / b> The patches were really known … read more