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Comment by vidarh | Hacker News Reader

With respect to going outside, the sulfuric acid clouds extend up to about 70km, so at 50km I'd want a bit more protection than a breathing mask in case the habitat happens to go through one.

But of course at the right height breathable air is also buoyant on Venus, and that's one of the key things that makes floating habitats attractive - we can use air for lift and live inside the balloons, and thanks to the equivalence of pressure small leaks shouldn't be an issue. Multiple compartments plus some spare, un-inflated sections, and you can have decent redundancy.

(I am planning a book set in part on Venus, but it's book 6 of a 6 book cycle and I'm currently being very slow about finishing book 3)

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Possibly a thin clothing layer could be designed to protect from sulphuric acid. I’m imagining something like a thin wetsuit.

Not sure what the purpose of going outside would be, though, other than for maintenance, given you'd be 50km up in the clouds.

A sweeping vista miles into the sky, above an alien world, through a break in the deadly clouds? Hell yeah I'm stepping out on my Venusuvian balcony.

Almost makes me wish I was born later.

At 50km you might get breaks so you can see clouds, not sure. That's it. But no chance of seeing the ground. That might appeal for a few minutes, but I think I'd be content with seeing it from an observation dome

Maintenance is indeed the big one. That's what most ISS EVAs are for!

Plus makes emergency procedures for leaks MUCH cheaper - light emergency ponchos and masks, and just walk over to the next sealed building.

Leaks wouldn't be a big issue because the pressure would be similar. You'd need to fix them, but you won't have the air suddenly rushing out.

I'm assuming you mean sealed buildings inside the blimps here, because you'd have nowhere to walk to on the outside on account of being 50km above ground. In which case you probably wouldn't need anything in the case of a leak.

That's what I meant. No need for fast closing bulkheads, just get everyone out to another sealed building inside the same aerostat at whatever speed it takes them to walk to an exit and get in their protective non-pressurized gear. Outrunning gas diffusion is easy.

For fun! I could imagine it would be pretty great to zoom around in the clouds in some kind of powered flight suit if you could.

50km up with certain death if you can't get back to the blimps because dropping down to the surface would be lethal? In fast moving wind systems? Yeah, no thanks.

I know people that feel that way about going outside on earth.

you will only see a beige fog. Nothing else

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