• Question: what planet would you go to?

    Asked by GloriaM to Tris on 18 Nov 2020.
    • Photo: Tris Warren

      Tris Warren answered on 18 Nov 2020:


      Venus! Venus, in general, is a very under-explored planet in our solar system. In the last 30 years, there has been 1 mission to Venus compared to 24 to Mars. Part of the reason why Venus is less visited is because it’s quite a dangerous place. Its has a thick toxic atmosphere that is mostly carbon dioxide with clouds of sulphuric acid. The air pressure at the surface is 90 times bigger than on Earth. If you stood on the surface of venus it would feel like you were a kilometre under the ocean. And the temperatures can get up to 470C – hot enough to melt some metals. It gets so hot because it had a run-away greenhouse effect.
      It sounds like a terrifying place right? …… So why do I want to go there then? Firstly because it would be really cool and in terms of science there is still a lot we don’t know about Venus. But in terms of living there, it’s actually not a bad option – not at the surface, but somewhere high up in its atmosphere we could live there floating around on a ballon ship.

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