Why? (Score: 1) by spallshurgenson@pipedot.org on 2014-12-26 14:37 (#2WDP) What's the point of floating cities on Venus anyway? I mean, if the population is going to be stuck in a tin-can anyway, you might as well do it in a tin-can that is /going/ somewhere or can do something useful. At least on a Mars colony you nominally have easier access to local resources, but - except for some highly polluted atmosphere - Venus doesn't even offer that. Focus on L-4 and -5 space platforms, asteroid mining, even interstellar generation ships; all would be more productive uses of our resources than bobbing about in Venus's atmosphere.I've never been a fan of planetary colonization anyway; short of finding a 1-in-a-million life-bearing planet, we're probably better off remaining in space; we're going to be stuck in artificial habitats no matter where we go, and we can find the same resources in solar orbit.Life has spent 2 billion years crawling out a deep gravity well; there's no reason we have to immediately dive right back in. Re: Why? (Score: 1) by tanuki64@pipedot.org on 2014-12-26 18:12 (#2WDW) What's the point of floating cities on Venus anyway?From the article:A new study by researchers at the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate, part of the NASA Langley Research Center, suggests astronauts could circle Venus in a helium-inflated dirigible -- conducting science experiments as they orbit.So no cities to live in, but research platforms.
Re: Why? (Score: 1) by tanuki64@pipedot.org on 2014-12-26 18:12 (#2WDW) What's the point of floating cities on Venus anyway?From the article:A new study by researchers at the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate, part of the NASA Langley Research Center, suggests astronauts could circle Venus in a helium-inflated dirigible -- conducting science experiments as they orbit.So no cities to live in, but research platforms.