We need to turn our sights to Venus. Here’s why:

NASA’s rendering of its proposed HAVOC mission.

I bet we’d all appreciate a brief break from the stress we constantly deal with down here on Earth, if such a break was possible.

Imagine this: you walk out on an alien planet, wearing only an air mask, and live to tell the tale. Wouldn’t that be fascinating, like the stuff your five-year old self dreamt of doing? 

What if I told you we have such a planet next door, where you could step out in your summer clothes and be fine –all by using feasible tech? This place exists, and it’s called Venus.

Venus? That inferno with air that’d crush you before you even landed on it? Yes.

Venus is funny: its surface temperature averages 465 °C, while its surface air pressure is 90 times thicker than Earth’s– enough to squish you to a pulp. But: up in Venus’s atmosphere, there exists an incredible place. 55 km above the surface, the temperature drops to 25 – 30°C and air pressure falls to Earth levels. So, our nearest planet has a place where you could literally stroll out wearing only a t-shirt and an oxygen mask, and you’d probably be fine.

This assumes you were on the balcony of some aircraft that hovered in the clouds of this zone. Wearing your shorts, you’d get to feel the air and take in the sights and sounds of another planet. How cool is that? These conditions exist on Venus, and it’s a place unlike anywhere else in the Solar System– aside from Earth. 

As we think of where humanity should begin our ‘training wheels’ of space travel (which we’ll eventually need to do for survival), Venus has advantages over our other neighbour, Mars:

• Carbon dioxide. While it may cause climate change worries on Earth, it would be a great help for Venus missions. The abundant CO₂ in its atmosphere would be a feast for plants, letting crops grow as if they were on steroids. Of course, flourishing agriculture is one of the key criteria for humans to survive anywhere beyond Earth. Another thing that’d be on steroids? Solar power. Solar panels would work far better, given Venus’ closer orbit around the Sun.
• Atmosphere. Unlike Mars, Venus’ thick atmosphere means that simple parachutes have easily slowed down incoming craft, cutting the risk of crash-landings. Another lucky convenience? The air we’d need to bring, oxygen, would float much better in Venus’ atmosphere (similar to how helium floats on Earth). So, if you fill a blimp-like structure with oxygen, it would easily stay afloat. This aircraft couldn’t pop by accident, since Venus’ heavier air would only let it slowly leak out– giving the astronauts time to fix a leak.
• Radiation. At this 50-60km elevation, Venus’ atmosphere still shields from space radiation– unlike Mars’ radiation-blasted surface.
• Gravity. Venus’ gravity is 89% of Earth’s, while Mars’ is only 38%. Astronauts in Venus’ atmosphere would hardly notice a difference, and the long-term health dangers of low-gravity –which astronauts on the ISS deal with– could be avoided.
• Proximity. NASA says it would take 3 months to get there– three times faster than voyaging to Mars. Once you’re there, the lag for chatting with people back on Earth would be 8 minutes— half as long as Mars’ lag. Also, Venus has launch windows every 584 days, instead of Mars’ 780 days.
• Relaxed winds. While Venusian winds zip around the planet– 55km high up, they become gentler. Plus, a floating habitat would simply move with the currents, so the astronauts on board likely wouldn’t feel much of a breeze.

Geoffrey Landis, an aerospace engineer at NASA, summarised this planet’s breathtaking potential: “The problem with Venus is merely that the ground level is too far below the one atmosphere level. At cloud-top level, Venus is the paradise planet.”

One potential Venusian hazard: its clouds of sulphuric acid, but it appears most of these float under 55km. Plus, simple teflon prevents damage from this acid, so we already have a solid defence for floating habitats.

US and Soviet missions from the 1960s-90s managed to float balloons for days in Venus’ atmosphere, so a ‘floating airship’ concept has already been done. Luckily, NASA hasn’t ignored Venus’ heap of advantages. It sketched plans for floating habitats in a proposed mission called HAVOC. Their renderings show a stunningly Earth-like view.

If we want to unite humanity by reigniting that wonder we feel whenever we see what we can achieve when we launch toward the stars, what better opportunity do we have? A planet so nearby, that’s almost feasible to visit and observe with technology we have today, is enough to spark excitement that I rarely feel.

What are we waiting for? If we want to trigger new waves of space research, inventions, and inspired classrooms, why don’t we jump at the chance to spread our wings to another planet? If governments hand out funds to militarise space as we speak, why can’t we put that to a more thrilling and survival-minded focus?