OceanGate's cofounder wants to send 1,000 people to a floating colony on Venus by 2050, and says we shouldn't stop pushing the limits of innovation
OceanGate's cofounder wants to send 1,000 people to a floating colony on Venus by 2050, and says we shouldn't stop pushing the limits of innovation
Guillermo Söhnleinm told Insider he has wanted to make humanity a multi-planet species since he was 11 years old, and that OceanGate was part of that ambition.
Guillermo Söhnleinm told Insider he has wanted to make humanity a multi-planet species since he was 11 years old, and that OceanGate was part of that ambition.
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Why Venus? Because Mars is already taken by Musk?
Venus has similar gravity to Earth. It is just about the same size and density. The atmospheric gasses can be turned into many different kinds of compounds provided enough energy and you could theoretically mine ore from the surface. It is much closer to Earth than mars as well. We recently detected through spectroscopy gasses in the atmosphere that are associated with the byproduct of life, so scientifically, it makes sense to have a science facility above the atmosphere to experiment further. The reality is that it’s more technically achievable to send a facility in orbit around another planet than to build a ground facility. Far less fuel needed. The gases in Venus’s atmosphere might also be able to be used as fuel.
Yeah, not sure if "floating colony" means orbital but if he means somehow in atmosphere those people are gonna have a bad time with the 900F degree temps and the 100 atmospheres of pressure
The article says that the proposed colony will be floating in the atmosphere 30 miles up, where temperature and pressure is a lot less.
But the guy still thinks carbon fibre pressure vessels are a good idea. Yikes.
in theory something like a zeppelin could be a good base for science but lets send a robotic balloon first before we send humans.
Oh, oh! Could we use hydrogen for the buoyancy part? I’m certain nothing would go wrong!
It would be nearly impossible to mine ore from the surface. We don't have the technology to keep something functional on the surface for more than a few minutes before it melts. A planet where you can't access/visit the surface doesn't seem like a good planet for humans to live.
A large number of probes have been landed on Venus already throughout the 70’s. They were able to take pictures and measure temperature on the surface for about an hour at most. That was over 50 years ago. I’m sure we are capable of constructing machines that can withstand the conditions for much longer now. In 30 years though we might not even deem that necessary and just capture an asteroid and orbit it around the planet and build the base of operations atop that.