Human Mission Outside Earth: Space Experts Say Venus Should Be a Priority Over Mars

With Venus having an extremely high surface temperature, hot enough to melt lead, one would not think scientists would be clamoring to deliver humans to the so-called fiery planet.

Per Interesting Engineering, "There's the crushing atmospheric pressure and clouds of sulphuric acid" in its atmosphere that's making its surface utterly uninhabitable.

Still, this same report said that a team of space experts is campaigning to switch the focus away from human exploration of Mars and towards first sending a crewed mission to Venus, the Earth's closest neighbor.

The team presented their argument at the International Astronautical Congress or IAC in Paris last week. In their presentation, they said that Venus is remarkably closer to Earth compared to Mars, a crewed mission to Venus could be completed in a fraction of the time and would offer valuable data for future missions to the Red Planet.

Return Mission to Venus

A return mission to Venus would be feasible in roughly a year while a mission to Mars and back could take approximately three years in all.

Therefore, a crewed Venus mission would have the benefit of allowing astronauts and scientists to learn more about the impacts of prolonged deep exploration in space on the human body in a fraction of time.

The downside is that humans would not be able to land on Venus, and they would simply carry out a crewed flyby, a similar BGR report said.

Nonetheless, a flyby would be very valuable from a scientific viewpoint, as scientists believe microbial life might be found in the clouds of Venus.

Planetary scientists also want to know how a planet that was once believed to have been quite similar to Earth turned out to be the "hellish inferno" it is presently.

Why Choose Venus First Over Mars?

Private space firm Rocket Lab, in fact, is working on a self-funded project to send a spacecraft to Venus to study. It is expecting to launch its uncrewed mission by 2023.

If everything goes as planned, it will be the first-ever private space firm to reach another planet, beating SpaceX. NASA and the European Space Agency are working on missions to Earth's nearest neighbor as well.

Scientists from the campaign team discussed the benefits of going to Venus at the IAC. Venus is getting a bad rap since it has become quite a difficult surface environment.

The present NASA paradigm is moon-to-Mars, which is explained on the space agency's website. According to Dr. Noan Izenberg from the Johns Hopkins University applied physics laboratory, "They're trying to make the case for Venus as an additional target "on that pathway."

He also said that, even though Venus is in the opposite direction to the Red Planet, a crewed flyby of the planet would enable the spacecraft to carry out a gravity assist, possibly shortening the travel time to Mars. In that manner, a crewed trip to Venus could be integrated into a mission to Mars.

Sending Humans to Venus

The professor indeed concede that a Venus flyby mission does not have traction yet although some voices within NASA are beginning to join their cause, which includes Alexander Macdonald, the NASA chief economist who led the IAC panel session.

Izenberg and Macdonald just co-authored an article entitled "Meeting with the Goddess," which summarizes the argument for sending humans to Venus before touching down on the Red Planet for the first time, to use an extraplanetary species.

Related information about the human mission to Venus is shown on Bloomberg Quicktake's YouTube video below:

Check out more news and information on Venus in Science Times.