First Human Colonies Should Be Among Venus' Clouds

StartsWithABang writes: When we talk about humans existing on worlds other than Earth, the first choice of a planet to do so on is usually Mars, a world that may have been extremely Earth-like for the first billion years of our Solar System or so. Perhaps, with enough ingenuity and resources, we could terraform it to be more like Earth is today. But the most Earth-like conditions in the Solar System don't occur on the surface of Mars, but rather in the high altitudes of Venus' atmosphere, some 50-65 km up. Despite its harsh conditions, this may be the best location for the first human colonies, for a myriad of good, scientific reasons. NASA proposed something similar last year and released a report on the subject.

Comments

Re:Atomospheric toxins.

[ChrisMaple]

On Venus, no need to stick your head out the window into the atmosphere. The atmosphere will eat through the walls and into you.

Re:Nice place to visit, maybe even stay a while

[PopeRatzo]

High enough, the climate is nice.

This is the only reason people live in Canada. Because if you're high enough, you don't really care about the climate.