Combining two of the most compelling tropes from science fiction: floating cities and colonising other planets, Geoffrey Landis, a scientist at the NASA Glenn Research Center (who also writes science fiction, apparently) suggest the idea that humans could live in aerostatic cities in the upper atmosphere of Venus:
50 km above the surface, Venus has air pressure of approximately 1 bar and temperatures in the 0
Space tourism is the big thing right now, if you’re a multimillionaire looking to do something no-one else has done. Or alternatively it takes years to train to be an astronaut – if you qualify. Much of science fiction is dedicated to the thought of life outside Earth’s gravity well. Yet how easy would that be? Discover magazine lists 20 things you probably don’t know about Living In Space. It offers some handy tips to surviving in a vacuum (don’t hold your breath!) as well as some interesting facts about existing astronauts, who grow around two inches on average due to less pressure on their spines. It makes you wonder how many people will want to spend their holidays in zero-g.
[via Discover Magazine, image from Apollo 17 mission via Eric Hartwell’s Infodabble]