Scifi Synopsis

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Sci-Fi story synopsis A small group of scientists are aboard an airship above the surface of venus. Their ship is slowly losing altitude due to holes in the airship and they are in a race against time to find a way to patch the ship and coordinate a rescue attempt. There will be encounters with space weather, propulsion and orbital mechanics, and planetary characteristics.

Challenges facing a manned mission to Venus

Venus is the second planet from the sun and has been a prominent feature in the sky that has been studied for thousands of years. The planet has been given many names throughout history such as “The Morning Star”, “Aphrodite”, and “sister of the moon” (Stone 6-8). Venus orbits at an average distance of around three fourths …show more content…

At an altitude of 50 Km conditions are described as “benign”. At this altitude the atmospheric pressure reaches that of the surface of earth and the temperatures are within the zone for liquid water to exist. In addition to the nice climate there is also abundant solar energy available to provide energy for potential missions. There is also enough solar radiation that is reflected off of the clouds below to merit solar panels facing both up and down. There is also enough protection from the Upper cloud layer to safely neutralize harmful radiation from space (3-4 …show more content…

The plan is to launch a capsule carrying a folded up blimp compete with solar panels and navigation into the atmosphere. Then midair the protective shell drops away and the blimp self inflates during its descent and ultimately come to a rest at 50 Km above the surface. This is a radically advanced procedure that would be a technological nightmare to pull off, but once in place the the crew would conduct scientific experiments for about a month before detaching the capsule below the blimp and rocketing up towards a rendezvous with a return