# Human Explorers on the Surface of the planet Venus **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2013, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-explorers-on-the-surface-of-the-planet-venus/653516 "2013-03-21T03:10:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-explorers-on-the-surface-of-the-planet-venus/653516/21 "2013-03-21T20:35:57Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > … > > Then you have issues of how to handle maintenance and repairs to damage. For example, let’s say there’s a Venus-quake that cracks your habitat. Did you build with enough strength to handle some damage without collapsing on you instantly? Who’s going to go outside to fix it, and how are they going to work? Forcefields? ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-explorers-on-the-surface-of-the-planet-venus/653516/22 "2013-03-22T00:16:06Z")
Perhaps a tractable engineering problem (as a first step to what the OP wants, to stay on topic) would be a rover like on Mars, that could last months or a couple years, rather than minutes or a few hours. Do we have materials that could last _that long_ on Venus? Normal computers would fail, but could some other semiconductor work at those temperatures? Any ideas what material would have the right band gaps? What about power? Is _any_ sort of photovoltaic cell plausible with the clouds and heat? Thermal radioisotope generators would seem to be right out. What else could be used? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-explorers-on-the-surface-of-the-planet-venus/653516/23 "2013-03-22T00:33:13Z")
Articulation needn’t be a problem: You make your thick-walled shell out of a single rigid piece, and then you put something else in it like a hamster ball to roll it around. Mind you, you won’t be doing anything _but_ rolling around, and you’d have a Hell of a time getting back off the surface without (or even with) exposed working parts, but I think that’d technically meet the OP’s criteria. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-explorers-on-the-surface-of-the-planet-venus/653516/24 "2013-03-22T01:02:35Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > Perhaps a tractable engineering problem (as a first step to what the OP wants, to stay on topic) would be a rover like on Mars, that could last months or a couple years, rather than minutes or a few hours. Do we have materials that could last _that long_ on Venus? The answer to all questions is no. At those temperatures, nothing functional is going to last very long, and no material that will last very long will serve to be functional. > [@Chronos](#): > > Articulation needn’t be a problem: You make your thick-walled shell out of a single rigid piece, and then you put something else in it like a hamster ball to roll it around. Mind you, you won’t be doing anything _but_ rolling around, and you’d have a Hell of a time getting back off the surface without (or even with) exposed working parts, but I think that’d technically meet the OP’s criteria. Good luck going uphill with that. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-explorers-on-the-surface-of-the-planet-venus/653516/25 "2013-03-22T01:10:13Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > Perhaps a tractable engineering problem (as a first step to what the OP wants, to stay on topic) would be a rover like on Mars, that could last months or a couple years, rather than minutes or a few hours. Do we have materials that could last _that long_ on Venus? > > Normal computers would fail, but could some other semiconductor work at those temperatures? Any ideas what material would have the right band gaps? > > What about power? Is _any_ sort of photovoltaic cell plausible with the clouds and heat? Thermal radioisotope generators would seem to be right out. What else could be used? Yes; silicon carbide, [which can operate up to 650C](http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/SiC/) and is [already a practical material](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_carbide#Electronic_circuit_elements), used in LEDs, diodes and transistors and yes, [PV cells](http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/RT/RT2001/5000/5410bailey2.html) (although the high band-gap limits the collection efficiency). Also, the surface of Venus is actually rather gloomy because of the thick clouds; Earth receives far more sunlight at the surface, despite half the total solar irradiance (only [17 W/m^2](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/JA085iA13p08167/abstract) reaches the surface of Venus; Earth averages around [198 W/m^2](http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/oceanography-book/radiationbalance.htm) day and night; this is the amount of sunlight indicated in the second picture as reaching the surface/absorbed+reflected), and of course there is the little problem of the [length of nights](http://www.universetoday.com/47898/length-of-day-on-venus/) Of course, the acid problem is another matter; many materials that can withstand sulfuric acid near room temperature won’t do so well at high temperatures; even tantaline (a tantalum alloy; tantalum is also highly corrosion resistant but expensive), which is [said to have the highest corrosion resistance](http://www.tantaline.com/sulfuric-acid-corrosion-57.aspx), corrodes at relatively mild temperatures of only 150C. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-explorers-on-the-surface-of-the-planet-venus/653516/26 "2013-03-22T01:24:01Z")
The Soviet Venusian probes in the '80s were designed to last about [30 minutes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera#Venera_9_to_12), in actuality they lasted a bit longer but had problems nevertheless. I doubt they’d be any sort of translucent material that would allow you to see out to the surface without it rapidly melting and having your lungs crushed in your Venusian Rover, and if you want to rely on sensors to slosh around in the supercritical CO2 you might as well use an unmanned probe in the first place and guide it remotely, saving the risk and the cost of life support. A while back the BBC made a drama about future space exploration, part of it included [a walk on Venus](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiMmpwCUyS0). **Stranger on a Train** will love the realism in it! A tad more [realistic](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqFVxWfVtoo) view of the surface courtesy of National Geographic ([a full documentary](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Juh47kRlkh0), Earth’s Evil Twin); clouds of sulphuric acid that will corrode steel, temperatures that boil lead, a barren volcanic surface. It’s probably the worst place in the Solar System you could choose for a manned landing short of a gas giant or the sun. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-explorers-on-the-surface-of-the-planet-venus/653516/27 "2013-03-22T01:37:16Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > … or the sun. Not if you go at night. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-explorers-on-the-surface-of-the-planet-venus/653516/28 "2013-03-22T02:03:06Z")
> [@FuzzyOgre](#): > > One overlooked fact: Getting people back off Venus would be a trick in itself. Well, we can just push that little problem off as a problem for the Venus Manned Lander \*Mark II. \* 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-explorers-on-the-surface-of-the-planet-venus/653516/29 "2013-03-22T02:15:40Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > Yes; silicon carbide, [which can operate up to 650C](http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/SiC/) and is [already a practical material](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_carbide#Electronic_circuit_elements), used in LEDs, diodes and transistors and yes, [PV cells](http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/RT/RT2001/5000/5410bailey2.html) (although the high band-gap limits the collection efficiency). Also, the surface of Venus is actually rather gloomy because of the thick clouds; Earth receives far more sunlight at the surface, despite half the total solar irradiance (only [17 W/m^2](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/JA085iA13p08167/abstract) reaches the surface of Venus; Earth averages around [198 W/m^2](http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/oceanography-book/radiationbalance.htm) day and night; this is the amount of sunlight indicated in the second picture as reaching the surface/absorbed+reflected), and of course there is the little problem of the [length of nights](http://www.universetoday.com/47898/length-of-day-on-venus/) Thanks. So the temperatures alone won’t prevent computers or photovoltaics. The length of night just means you’d have to land in the morning, and you’d be limited to maybe 90 days or so, but that’s still pretty good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-explorers-on-the-surface-of-the-planet-venus/653516.md?page=1)