NASA envisions city of solar-powered helium airships above Venus

The High Altitude Venus Operational Concept program would eventually send a manned mission to the atmosphere of Venus Around 30 miles above the surface, Venus has temperatures andatmosphericpressure reminiscent of Earth's A robot would first be sent to the Venus' atmosphere to test the waters -- a two-manned vehicle would follow The project could one day pave the way toward a floating city above Venus

By Josh Gardner for MailOnline

Published: 12:31 EST, 21 December 2014 | Updated: 17:15 EST, 29 December 2014

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Why weather the bone-chilling rocky surface of Mars when you could call the clouds of Venus' earth-like upper atmosphere home?

That's the question posed by a NASA project that envisions a future where humans might live in solar-powered airships 31 miles above Earth's nearest neighbor.

Dubbed theHigh Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC) the project would first send a robotic scout to gauge the lay of the land (or clouds) followed by a 30-day manned mission in a zeppelin-style helium ship.

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NASA envisions city of solar-powered helium airships above Venus