Spoilers, nothing good. Spend 5 seconds on the second planet of the solar system: catapult to hellish Venus
Welcome to hell. Sorry, Venus. Some say it’s Earth’s twin, but this world is nothing like our home. Trust me, it’s going to be a very long five seconds. Venus is the second planet from the Sun and our closest neighbor. At its closest distance from Earth, Venus is only 40 million km away from us. After just four months in space, you’ll finally be able to get a closer look at this beautiful but deadly planet. Four and a half billion years ago, Venus and Earth formed in the same corner. This space rock is about the same size as Earth and its gravity is similar too. But, unlike our home, the surface situation on Venus is extreme.
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The video
We know this because in this hellish world. Some probes have orbited Venus, others have performed a flyby. And some even landed on its surface, but without lasting very long. Those yellowish streaks across the sky are clouds of sulfuric acid. If you could just smell them, you would smell rotten eggs. But to do this you would have to take off your helmet and we absolutely do not recommend this!
Infernal heat
Once you land, a quick look at your thermometer would tell you that it’s 475°F outside. It’s enough to melt lead. Your pressure suit would work hard to keep you safe. Without it, you would be crushed by all that pressure before you could complete your mission. If the suit were to break, the drastic would immediately make you feel like you were deep underwater. With atmospheric pressure 90 times that of Earth, Venus would crush you from all directions. At the same time, you would struggle to breathe in an oxygen-free atmosphere.
The consequences on the body
The air you can inhale would burn the inside of your mouth and the top of your throat. Unless you could return to the safety of your spaceship very quickly, you would die within seconds. But it could be worse. High above you, clouds of sulfuric acid. In this unbearably hot environment, the toxic rain would not reach the surface. It would evaporate much sooner. So at least you wouldn’t have to worry about the acid dissolving your skin and bones. That would be pretty creepy, right?
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