Personally I'd prefer a manned Venus landing. It's the prettiest planet naturally. Must be some great photo opportunities. Plus it's closer!
Sure. You first.
Personally I'd prefer a manned Venus landing. It's the prettiest planet naturally. Must be some great photo opportunities. Plus it's closer!
Personally I'd prefer a manned Venus landing. It's the prettiest planet naturally. Must be some great photo opportunities. Plus it's closer!
Personally I'd prefer a manned Venus landing.
Venus would give you a big warm hug if you paid her a visit.
Exactly. It must be very cozy given how warm it is.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned the discovery of extraterrestrial life.
Cozy enough to melt lead. Literally.
Cozy enough to melt lead. Literally.
Cozy enough that you are actually landing in a rare special form of CO2, super-critical CO2. Which is neither liquid nor gaseous. Which is pretty freaky. Density like a liquid, but effuses through solid materials like a gas. And has an extreme thermal capacity...which is why such super-critical CO2 is also attractive for air conditioning.
That's really interesting, I didn't know that at all. Is the super-critical state just a product of the extremely high pressure then? Also, if it's useful for air conditioning like you said, would it be possible to utilise it to actively cool a spacecraft for long-term surface science?
Yes, exactly that. supercritical CO2 exists in a range of pressures and temperatures. You could use it as medium for heat transport inside the spacecraft, but this property is also making life on Venus pretty annoying, since the atmosphere is very effective in heating your spacecraft that way.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned the discovery of extraterrestrial life. Life would probably be discovered first by space telescopes or interplanetary probes. I hope it happens sooner than later. The not-too-distant generation of telescopes and probes should be capable enough.
I wouldn't expect that until at least 2100.
I wouldn't want that until at least 2300.
Explain.