NASA Proposes City On Venus Called Cloud City, And The Technology Already Exists

A NASA city on Venus is the agency’s next big concept, and the technology required to do so exists today.

In a lot of ways, Venus is similar to Earth. It’s about the same size and has similar chemical composition and density. With that said, there are a lot of problems with the planet, sparking the idea of NASA’s plan called Cloud City.

Probes have been sent to the surface once before, but they only lasted a few hours. Venus has some very tough conditions on its surface. The atmospheric pressure is 92 times higher than that of Earth, temperatures can reach almost 863 degrees Fahrenheit, there’s volcanic activity all around, and the atmosphere doesn’t have enough nitrogen.

NASA still wants to explore Earth’s nearest neighbor, so Cloud City was born.

The concept is made up of spacecrafts – blimps – that would float above the acidic clouds – 30 miles above the surface – where the temperature and atmosphere density aren’t as harsh.

The crafts would float there for about a month, and it would give astronauts the opportunity to explore the planet without meeting the same fate as the probes.

The mission will start with one probe exploring the area above the clouds and gathering data. After the data is analyzed, astronauts will stay in one spacecraft for 30 days. Following that, more blimps will be sent, and astronauts will live there for a year. The main goal is to have humans in Cloud City at all times.

Also planned is a crewed zeppelin that would be more mobile in the air.

This new project may seem like science fiction, but all the designs to implement Cloud City uses technology that already exists. The plan is possible, but whether or not NASA actually goes through with it is a different question.

This isn’t NASA’s first planned project that will enhance our understanding of outer space like never before. Just a few weeks ago, they launched their first test of the Orion aircraft that will take four astronauts to an asteroid that would transport them to Mars. That data is still being analyzed.

Another agency in Europe just gained the funds and permission to begin construction on the world’s largest telescope, which will help scientists examine Earth-sized planets closely.

Chris Jones from the Langley Research Center that came up with the city on Venus, said that Cloud City would be a great practice run of going to Mars.

Think it will happen?