Why aren't we exploring Venus?

[amdhunter]

I guess we could always fake a landing like we did for the moon.

 

[SP33Demon]

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

And their budget was just cut 39% this year so Obummer could get reelected. Hope he ups it back up once he's reelected.

 

[clamum]

A better question is "Why aren't we exploring Mars?"

 

[SagaLore]

A better question is "Why aren't we exploring Mars?"

We are...

 

[Jeff7]

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.

Build it out of osmium, and give it a fission-powered cooling system.

Now all we need is to resurrect Project Prometheus, a lot of osmium, and figure out some efficient way of machining it.


(Why osmium? Because osmium is awesome, that's why.)

 

[ImpulsE69]

And their budget was just cut 39% this year so Obummer could get reelected. Hope he ups it back up once he's reelected.

Sounds like a job for bitcoin! ;p


The problem with space exploration in general is that unless there's money to be made, or possibility of life and/or somewhere for us to "go", there is very little practical purpose other than scientific knowledge. Sure people like scientific knowledge, but not as much as they like money.

 

[Squisher]

Which would you rather explore

this

or this?

 

[TechBoyJK]

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.

It simply serves as a warning. It's a giant WTF DONT GET TO CLOSE TO SUN

 

[SphinxnihpS]

The sulfuric acid "rain" is only in the upper atmosphere. There is never any liquid that hits the surface of Venus.

 

[BladeVenom]

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.

It has H2SO4 in the atmosphere. That's an oxidizer.

 

[JTsyo]

It simply serves as a warning. It's a giant WTF DONT GET TO CLOSE TO SUN

Venus is not really that close to the sun. The surface temp. is more from the greenhouse effect than solar heating. It's mostly hotter than Mercury.

 

[SunnyD]

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:

I think that was his point.

 

[SP33Demon]

Sounds like a job for bitcoin! ;p


The problem with space exploration in general is that unless there's money to be made, or possibility of life and/or somewhere for us to "go", there is very little practical purpose other than scientific knowledge. Sure people like scientific knowledge, but not as much as they like money.

Asteroid mining = $$$$

Sadly all of our resources for rare metal mining are going to Afghanistan atm. Hence the Nasa budget cut.

 

[reallyscrued]

Why aren't we exploring my penis?

 

[BoomerD]

ATOT...I am disappoint.


OP, a much better question is...why aren't we ALL exploring Uranus?

 

[destrekor]

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.

With a more conducive atmosphere, it's feasible average daytime surface temperatures could be *tolerable*, but one wouldn't really want to go doing much vigorous activity. And again, with a better atmosphere, nightside would probably be quite comfortable.
Air condition would most certainly be recommended for any surface dwellings, that much seems certain. But it probably wouldn't be a "bake you instantly" type temperature.

Of course, it is that way right now, but that is due to the runaway greenhouse effect. Venus, Earth, and Mars are actually remarkably similar planets. Earth became the goldilocks thanks to abundant water and, for our sake, a "perfect" atmosphere. Mars and Venus went opposite directions - Mars likely just didn't quite have enough mass/density to establish a solid gravitational lock on an atmosphere - evidence suggests it had a very well-established atmosphere, likely similar to ours, but weaker gravity and a weak magnetosphere allowed solar winds to strip away the atmosphere.
As for Venus, I'm not sure about the properties of its magnetosphere, but the atmosphere was allowed to grow more and more dense; with it being almost entirely CO2, that also allowed a well-established greenhouse effect to take hold.
If we could not only turn some into O2, and additionally siphon a large portion of the atmosphere away, temperatures would be nowhere near the insanity levels we have witnessed - it's not close enough to the sun to truly have unbearable temperatures if the atmosphere was far less dense. No atmosphere, and the nightside would be unbearably cold too. Most likely, if we can tame the atmosphere, we could create dome-style habitats quite feasibly - with exposed-surface walks being possible with protection.
Does it have a weak magnetosphere? I see discussion of radiation... that isn't really feasible fix for humanity, not in the next millennium at any rate - so the radiation variable would remain dangerous - but domes plus a less-crushing atmosphere? Doable - in time.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

I guess we could always fake a landing like we did for the moon.

Do you like being this stupid? I mean I always heard that the dumbest people are the happiest. True?

 

[destrekor]

Sounds like a job for bitcoin! ;p


The problem with space exploration in general is that unless there's money to be made, or possibility of life and/or somewhere for us to "go", there is very little practical purpose other than scientific knowledge. Sure people like scientific knowledge, but not as much as they like money.

Asteroid mining = $$$$

Sadly all of our resources for rare metal mining are going to Afghanistan atm. Hence the Nasa budget cut.

This is one of the reasons why I'm actually glad American space-flight and exploration will be in the hands of private corporations - the actual draw of potential revenues will both fuel competition and desire to tackle new frontiers. There's a ton of money to be made from space - be it tourism or mining. We'll all benefit once they see the potential and establish a viable solution.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Why aren't we exploring my penis?

Man has already been there.

 

[reallyscrued]

Man has already been there.

 

[SSSnail]

Why? We have enough wimmenz problems here on Earth!

 

[notposting]

We should just *simply* adjust Venus and Mar's orbits to match our own, (spaced out a bit of course). Should be a piece of cake to terraform them then.

 

[SirStev0]

Because Sci Fi has our sights on Mars.

 

[Pray To Jesus]

We should just *simply* adjust Venus and Mar's orbits to match our own, (spaced out a bit of course). Should be a piece of cake to terraform them then.

Possible :whiste:

just need lots of energy

 

[SagaLore]

Possible :whiste:

just need lots of energy

Just send 1 nuke every day for a year to intercept low venus orbit on day side, slowly pushing it further away from the sun while stripping small amounts of the upper atmosphere off.