Mars, move over. NASA has its eyes on another planet: Venus.

The proposal to go to Venus comes from the space agency's Langley Research Center. The center pointed out that Venus is a more logical step for mankind in its space exploration ventures since Venus is closer by a few million miles compared to Mars.

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Going to Venus would be 60 days shorter since the round trip would last 440 days compared to 500 days to Mars and back, reports Extremetech.com.

To reach Venus, the center believes the best vessel would be a solar-powered airship. Their proposed design is a 129 meter spaceship to be called High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC).

It would have a small living space suspended underneath and solar panels to tap the Sun's power. Venus receives 40 percent more solar energy compared to Earth and 240 times more than what Mars gets.

HAVOC won't land on Venus's surface, which has a temperature of almost 500 degrees Celsius, hot enough to melt lead. Moreover, the planet's atmosphere is made of carbon dioxide with clouds of sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid.

The center plans to float the airship 50 kilometers above the surface where the temperature is only 75 degrees Celsius.

It envisions floating cities on Venus where inhabitants would live in the habitats attached beneath airships.

To reach that goal, NASA needs to implement a five-phase plan that starts with HAVOC sending a robot into the Venutian atmosphere to study its environment.

Next is a manned mission that would orbit the hot planet for one month, followed by a crew entering Venus' atmosphere and floating among the clouds for another month.

The fourth stage involves sending a crew to live in Venus's atmosphere for one year. This would lead to the establishment of floating cities if all went well.

Tagsvenus, NASA, space exploration