NASA Getting Into the Steampunk Business
As a kid growing up, Japanese anime was always one of my favorite genres of entertainment. I was raised in a military family and we were stationed in Germany. There we only had one television channel, count ‘em, one channel. The channel was called AFN, the Armed Forces Network, which provided a curated list of American television programming. Whoever the curator was, they certainly had a love and appreciation for anime. I saw the likes of Star Blazers and Starvengers (Space Battleship Yamato and Getter Robo for you anime purists). I was hooked. The animation, the stories, the over the top action, it was great! But one sub-category of anime that I never really got into was Steampunk. Admittedly I hadn’t heard about it until sometime in the 90s or early 2000s, though the concept intrigued me. Steampunk places society in a seemingly permanent 19th and 20th century industrial age, improved by ultra-modern technology. One anime that comes to mind, and I only caught glimpses of it, was Fullmetal Alchemist. Such anime definitely had the over the top action and high-concept science fiction that I’d normally crave. But alas, never saw the series. But the concept of super high-tech industrial vehicles and machines still tantalized me.
So what does this all have to do with the very real science video I found on Youtube and posting here? Well, it looks like NASA is perhaps taking some inspiration from steampunk anime. You see, NASA has suddenly regained interest in our sister planet Venus. For some time now, NASA has ignored Venus like an abused stepchild, favoring instead her star studded little brother, Mars. However, the recent barrage of newly discovered exoplanets has reignited NASA’s interest in Venus.
Many of the exoplanets that have been discovered have some of the most extreme and hellish environments one could possibly imagine. Sound familiar? And the idea of such planets being able to support life seems utterly ridiculous. But some at NASA think we should find out more about these type of extreme planets before discounting them altogether.
Studying them up-close is beyond our means at the moment however. Oh sure, we have super advanced telescopes that are able to provide us with a great deal of data and information. It really speaks to the cleverness and ingenuity of Earthlings to be sure, but in terms of sending probes over there to get nice pretty pictures with in depth scans? Yeah, not possible at the moment. But stop the press, we have a lovely next door neighbor who happens to resemble some of those hell planets and her name just happens to be Venus. In terms of extreme environments, Venus can hang with the best of them. She’s easily the hottest planet in the solar system. I mean, just slap her pic on the cover of Vogue Magazine already. At a blistering 900 degrees Fahrenheit, Venus’ surface temperature even beats out Mercury, the planet closest to the sun. Mercury, during the day, only comes in at a paltry 800 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeah, if aliens lived on Mercury, they’d probably brag about how they have a dry heat with no humidity, and how great it is for their hair, and–. Sorry, I digress. Let’s just say I’ve had more than one conversation with Arizonians.
At any rate, Venus is no vacation spot. Did I mention that it has extremely high pressure , about 93 bar? That’s about the equivalent of being 3000 feet under the ocean. Oh yes, and it also has swirling clouds made of sulphuric acid. Such a hostile environment also provides a good reason why NASA hasn’t placed a priority on trying to send something like a Mars Curiosity rover to Venus. The problem is, given the materials that a curiosity rover is composed of, it just wouldn’t last very long. The temperatures on Venus are hot enough to melt lead, not exactly ideal for sensitive electronics. Nor is it ideal for any vehicle that hopes to keep its wheels rolling and do some exploring for any length of time. So it’s understandable why NASA has avoided Venus for so long. But alas, we’ve come full circle and we’re back to our discussion on steampunk anime, or more precisely, steampunk technology. No longer can we think along the lines of using wimpy electronic devices and computers. We need something more industrial, more hard core, more resilient. Steampunk tech seems to fit the bill. Oh sure, we’re not going to send giant walking robots powered by steam over there, but it is the concept of taking a more rugged and mechanical approach and developing a technology that can withstand the literal hell that is Venus. Have a look at the YouTube video below. NASA is certainly considering some exciting approaches to exploratory vehicles for our sister planet.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/wkMoVxM0qMM[/youtube]