14 DAY TRIAL // The American space agency had, at one point in its history, a very well-defined plan regarding the planet Venus. However, due to a large and varied number of reasons, these initiatives were abandoned, in favor of other space exploration missions. Now, two decades later, NASA is again turning its eye on our neighboring planet, this time decided to go through with its plans. Experts who are working on the agency's new approach to reaching the planet say that a real flotilla is being devised for the job.
According to a NASA expert, the future Venus mission includes an atmospheric airplane, a ground-based explorations robot, as well as a manned orbital spacecraft. This explorations flotilla would for the first time allow astronauts to collect samples directly from the surface of Venus. “Recently there has been a renaissance in looking at proposals to study Venus,” tells Space Geoffrey A. Landis. He is a researcher at the NASA John Glenn Research Center, in Ohio.
“One very good reason is that there has been a renewed interest in study of the atmospheres and climates of planets, and – being the planet that is most like the Earth in size – learning more about the atmosphere of Venus may help us learn more about the atmosphere (and climate) of the Earth,” he adds. The expert also reveals that NASA experts will most likely meet in early August to discuss any prospective plans of this nature. Nothing has been drawn up for certain up to this point, and, if such an effort is approved, then another few years will pass before we can see an actual spacecraft taking off.
Humans will not be able to set foot on the surface of the planet in the near future. Temperatures and pressures are too hot to sustain human life, but we may be able to participate in the planet's exploration virtually, by commanding robots from the Venusian orbit. “Venus is so hostile that we're not likely to land humans on it anytime in the foreseeable future. Fortunately, we are learning a lot about long-duration habitation in space from the International Space Station, and by the time we're ready to send this mission, most of the difficult questions will be better understood, and many of the technologies chosen,” Landis says.