How Could We Create Settlements on Venus?

By Matthew Williams September 4, 2016
How Could We Create Settlements on Venus?

Welcome back to our series on Settling the Solar System! Today, we take a look at Earth's "sister planet", the hellish, yet strangely similar planet Venus. Enjoy!

Examples in Fiction:

Proposed Methods:

"[T]he atmosphere of Venus is the most earthlike environment (other than Earth itself) in the solar system. It is proposed here that in the near term, human exploration of Venus could take place from aerostat vehicles in the atmosphere, and that in the long term, permanent settlements could be made in the form of cities designed to float at about fifty kilometer altitude in the atmosphere of Venus."

Potential Benefits:

Challenges:

  • Geoffrey A. Landis, "Colonization of Venus", NASA Glenn Research Center

  • V. Badescu, K. Zacny (eds.), Inner Solar System: Prospective Energy and Material Resource, Springer.com

  • Wikipedia - Colonization of Venus

  • M.J. Way et al. "Was Venus the first habitable world of our solar system?", Geophysical Research Letters.

  • D. Arney, C. Jones. "HAVOC: High Altitude Venus Operational Concept - An Exploration Strategy for Venus", NASA Technical Reports Server, Langley Research Center.

    • Matthew Williams

    Matthew Williams

    Matt Williams is a space journalist, science communicator, and author with several published titles and studies. His work is featured in The Ross 248 Project and Interstellar Travel edited by NASA alumni Les Johnson and Ken Roy. He also hosts the podcast series Stories from Space at ITSP Magazine. He lives in beautiful British Columbia with his wife and family. For more information, check out his website.