Why aren't we exploring Venus?

[SagaLore]

Venus is the closet planet to us, has both composition and gravity similar to Earth. We just need to come up with ways to deal with the sulfuric acid rain and incredibly high pressure and heat. But still, wouldn't that seem like a really cool venture to pursue?

Years ago I read based on some spectral analysis of the atmosphere they think there is some active organic chemistry going on there.

 

[Rumpltzer]

We just need to come up with ways to deal with the sulfuric acid rain and incredibly high pressure and heat.

Is that all??!

Well, dayum... we should get the North Koreans working on that all lickety-split.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'm actually surprised too that we arn't visiting more planets such as venus. I guess it's a question of purpose. Yes it's neat to find out what's out there, but it does not really have a practical purpose.

 

[BladeVenom]

Don't forget the extra cosmic radiation, since it has a weak magnetic field.

You go ahead and design a Venus rover that can deal with all that.

Venus has no practical benefit. The conditions are just too harsh for humans to survive there.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

What are you going to do in a place like Venus? I don't think any probe has survived more than 2 hours on the surface. If ever we actually go to the planet, just the effort of not dying would likely exhaust our engineering and scientific abilities. The planet has no water, it's around 450 degrees Celsius, it has an atmospheric pressure of around 100atm, and the surface never, ever sees the sun. I'd much rather we focused on places like Europa and Titan. Plus, personally I'd prefer to freeze to death rather than boil to death, but that's just me.

 

[kyrax12]

I heard there was someone that been to another planet before. A planet like Venus but died when he got there because of the toxic atmosphere.

It was in some documentary.

 

[randomrogue]

I heard there was someone that been to another planet before. A planet like Venus but died when he got there because of the toxic atmosphere.

It was in some documentary.

 

[zanejohnson]

I heard there was someone that been to another planet before. A planet like Venus but died when he got there because of the toxic atmosphere.

It was in some documentary.

it was supposedly some exchange program with the grey aliens (zeta riticuli) planet x...

it's not real.

 

[Squisher]

Sounds like an easy place to get a fire started to cook dinner.

 

[So]

Sounds like an easy place to get a fire started to cook dinner.

Actually, no, it would be virtually impossible to start a fire to cook dinner on Venus -- there's no oxygen in the atmosphere. Of course, by the time you give up, dinner's done anyway...and so are you.

 

[RocksteadyDotNet]

I heard there was someone that been to another planet before. A planet like Venus but died when he got there because of the toxic atmosphere.

It was in some documentary.

Wat.

 

[Bateluer]

Design an orbiter that can drop at least 1 probe into the atmosphere to measure for organic processes before it gets crushed/melted.

 

[Baked]

Sprinkle some cruel oil on the surface and we'll send some space ship destroyers over to drill the shit out of that planet.

 

[Via]

Venus is hell.

That's where all of the lost souls are kept. Does that sound like a place you'd want to visit?

 

[blankslate]

Can't fund space exploration...

for various reasons.

 

[BoomerD]

Sprinkle some cruel oil on the surface and we'll send some space ship destroyers over to drill the shit out of that planet.

"Cruel oil" would be much more attractive to Big Oil and their Republican supporters...much more so than the more common "crude oil." :whiste:

 

[xSkyDrAx]

Venus is hell.

That's where all of the lost souls are kept. Does that sound like a place you'd want to visit?

Hey.... aren't women from Venus :hmm:

 

[LTC8K6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera_program

 

[LTC8K6]

http://www.mentallandscape.com/C_CatalogVenus.htm

 

[LTC8K6]

Welcome to Venus.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

in the long run I think it will be easier to terraform Venus by removing excess atmosphere than to add it to Mars to make liveable conditions without redonkulous life support systems.

But I'd also say that's well outside a generation away

 

[SagaLore]

in the long run I think it will be easier to terraform Venus by removing excess atmosphere than to add it to Mars to make liveable conditions without redonkulous life support systems.

But I'd also say that's well outside a generation away

Right now solar wind is stripping large quantities of hydrogen off the atmosphere.

The atmosphere is full of CO2, which means we have oxygen available.

There is also a lot of sulfur in the atmosphere.

I think what we need to do is genetically engineer a desulfitobacterium that can thrive in those conditions, release it into the venetian atmosphere.

As far as colonizing Venus, we probably won't ever be able to human colonize the surface, but we can colonize the upper atmosphere with floating cities. We could genetically engineer other types of plants and creatures that could live on the surface, as we already have sea creatures that can live at those pressures.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Actually if it's that hot there, you could use the heat to power steam turbines that generate power to air condition the entire planet. This sounds flawed though.

CO2 is actually a good thing, load it up with plants, and you'll get O2.

 

[jlee1]

NASA has no money for any more missions/projects. They earn less than .5% of the federal budget

 

[JTsyo]

Actually if it's that hot there, you could use the heat to power steam turbines that generate power to air condition the entire planet. This sounds flawed though.

CO2 is actually a good thing, load it up with plants, and you'll get O2.

It's not easy to get energy from heat, what you need is a temperature difference.

As pointed out before there have been probes to Venus. Venus is a good lesson in runaway greenhouse effect.