NASA scientists want to send a crew to the clouds of Venus

NASA scientists want to send a crew to the clouds of Venus
(Image credit: iStock)

With temperatures above 900 degrees Fahrenheit and an intense atmospheric pressure, sending humans to the surface of Venus is impossible, but two NASA scientists say going to the planet's clouds is a different story.

Dale Arney and Chris Jones believe that an airship could explore the atmosphere of Venus, The Verge reports, because gravity at 31 miles above the planet is just slightly lower than Earth's and the atmospheric pressure is roughly the same. A helium-filled airship called the High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC) would run on solar power and would have to be folded into a spacecraft to make the long journey. (The human crew would follow behind in a separate craft.)

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.