this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023
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OceanGate's cofounder wants to send 1,000 people to a floating colony on Venus by 2050, and says we shouldn't stop pushing the limits of innovation::Guillermo Söhnleinm told Insider he has wanted to make humanity a multi-planet species since he was 11 years old, and that OceanGate was part of that ambition.

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[–] [email protected] 162 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I hope the tickets are really expensive! And why wait until 2050?

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yeah. I mean for a couple million I have can build a rocker that is guaranteed to send billionaires to Venus. Just sign that waiver first please.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

let's offer musk first dibs for 20 billion dollars.

[–] [email protected] 60 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Err… Venus has one of the most hostile environments in the Solar System. A titanium probe can only survive there a few hours.

Dumb.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

And flex tape and control it with Razer RGB controller.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

What could possibility go wrong with using a low compression strength material in a high pressure environment?

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[–] Kerfuffle 26 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Venus has one of the most hostile environments in the Solar System.

It might seem unintuitive, but there's an area above the clouds that's actually really very mild as far as conditions go. It's also closer/easier to get to than Mars and various useful components can be harvested from the atmosphere which is quite dense while Mars doesn't have much.

Also, breathable air is less dense than the Venusian atmosphere so habitats filled with gas humans can breathe would actually be buoyant. You wouldn't even need a pressurized spacesuit to go outside, just an air supply.

Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_Venus

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)

Thank God we perfected "landing somewhere in the upper atmosphere" in the 70s.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

To add to this, one of the potential advantages is that you could use the temperature gradient as you drop further into the atmosphere as an energy source - making it one of the few areas in the solar system where you wouldn't be reliant soley on solar or nuclear.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well, it does say it would be a floating colony, so it would probably be up where the atmosphere is about as dense as Earth's, and above the sulfuric acid clouds, which is quite a bit more feasible than on the surface. That's something actual real scientists and engineers have looked at. Still not overly feasible though, and there surely won't be a 1000-person colony there by 2050. Even if NASA, SpaceX and the rest of the industry pivoted to Venus rather than Mars, I'd doubt that could happen. And I'd trust pretty much anyone more than this guy to pull it off.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Exactly. I don't see any flaw with his idea. I'm sure billionaires are litterally dying to get on that trip.

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[–] [email protected] 60 points 1 year ago (3 children)

1000 of the richest people? Sure, go for it

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

This guy might actually be in our best interests!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Sounds like a good start!

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 year ago

Only if I can drive the spaceship with a Logitech wireless controller.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago

Is this some kind of insanity plea to get him off the hook for any negligence claims?

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Soo I know I'm not in the slightest the target audience for his shit. But I can say there's no way in hell I would ever trust a vessel from that company going forward.

[–] pancakes 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But you see, it'll be rebranded as "VenusGate", a completely different company that you can trust.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Lets name that deathtrap titan too...

[–] mwalkerd 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Titan Too", that's perfect

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Titan99 or in roman numerals TitanIC

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Event horizon would be a good name.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

1000 billionaires, sounds like a great plan. They did so well last time.

Getting the flotation is actually not that difficult in terms of engineering since Venus has a crazy thick atmosphere. Not hard to float a balloon at an altitude of a few Earth atmospheres. Problem is your life is dependent on the reliability of the floatation system. It would take a lot of attention to fail safe design. That OceanGate organization would be like "the wrong stuff".

There's other engineering challenges in colonizing Venus such as solar radiation. Venus has no magnetosphere to protect against ion radiation from the Sun and being closer it's much more intense than Mars. Then you'd have to tether the balloon somehow, Venus has some strong vertical winds. That's going to be like thirty miles of cable to the scalding 900F surface. Venus has clouds of sulfuric acid so that's going to present a materials challenge. It's a tough sell, greatly easier to colonize Mars.

It's like when Elon started blowing smoke about colonizing the moons of Jupiter. If not already aware, Jupiter emits the most radiation of any solar body second only to the Sun. The moons around Jupiter are seriously toxic to human life. They can't even get a probe to last more than a year around Jupiter due to radiation exposure, let alone a manned spacecraft.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

[*] implosion
[] explosion

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago
  • [x] implosion
  • [ ] explosion
[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This man can't even make a safe submarine

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Spaceships are probably easier to build. No external pressure in space, no regulations for passenger space ships yet...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The irony is that it is probably true. Think about it. The atmosphere is one atmosphere of pressure, obviously. Space is zero. Under the ocean at the Titanic it is 400.

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[–] CookieJarObserver 15 points 1 year ago

They just want to kill rich people...

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Isn’t that the company that made that crappy sub that imploded?? This man crazy thinking we would trust him with space travel!

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He does not want us to trust him with space travel. He wants us to trust him with our money.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Agreed! A better way to put it.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yes, please go ahead.

I will even open a bottle of sparkling wine for the occasion!

Edit: btw, does anybody else have Nandor The Relentless‘ voice in their head whenever somebody is named Guillermo?

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

VenusGate: Uh, spaceguard? We lost contact with the Venus colony several weeks ago. They've got 2 months of air so they might still be alive. Though we did learn from the last time and didn't bolt the windows shut in case they made it back to Earth on their own and needed to get out. The CEO did complain about the smell of farts increasing and the last communication said they were able to get a few open to air out the place, so we know they work.

NASA: Spaceguard isn't a thing. Also the bolts weren't the problem last time, it was the complete structural failure. Opening some windows probably allowed the pressure to equalize, which caused the vessel to drop into the "everything melts" zone. They are dead.

VenusGate: So you won't be sending anyone out to look for them?

NASA: No.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So which social media platform will he buy

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

If only all billionaires would take care of themselves like this...

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

For sustainable environment, the ships, habitats, and all applicable equipment will be made with safe, state-of-the-art recyclable plastics.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

that timeline is laughable...

26 years sounds like a long time... but time enough to set up a floating colony on venus??? yea no...

[–] MyNameIsIgglePiggle 12 points 1 year ago

I'd like to sign up Elon for the maiden voyage

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

so, will they use the same type of controller for this mission or update it?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

Well, budget's tight given recent events, all they can afford is the MadCatz now.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Oh boy here we go again! Be sure to make the ticket price like 10 million dollars, please.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This one requires the laughing Mexican guy with the missing teeth. Anyone got that gif in a barrel?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Easier to work with 0atm vs several thousand.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago
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