The man who co-founded the company behind the Titan submarine disaster believes he can “safely” send humans to Venus.
Guillermo Sonlein, 58, made the revelation in a blog post in April where he argued that humanity could try to live and work on Venus, despite the inhospitable conditions due to its proximity to Earth.
He believes that the challenges presented by Venus, such as carbon dioxide and clouds made of sulfuric acid, “can be overcome with breathing apparatus and acid-resistant materials.”
The Argentinian-born co-founder of OceanGate also believes its inhospitable surface, which is around 864 degrees Fahrenheit (462 degrees Celsius), shouldn’t be a problem if people just build a home 50km up in the air, where conditions are reportedly are similar to those on Earth.
In his blog earlier this year, the Argentinian-born Oceangate co-founder wrote: “We can start our journey to Venus TODAY… and do it safely and cost-effectively.
“The reality is that Venus is much closer to Earth and has a much more similar orbit, making it much more accessible than Mars (lower cost, more frequent flights, shorter transit times, higher safety etc.).
“We also don’t have to worry about making successful landings on the planet’s surface, which is one of the biggest challenges we face on Mars.”
“If anything, it could be argued that sending people to Venus BEFORE sending them to Mars might be a better way to safely develop the capabilities to create a Martian community.”
Söhnlein now hopes to encourage enough people to join a community of scientists, researchers and private investors to make his dream of reaching Venus a reality, despite the fact that humans have never physically traveled further than the Moon.
He co-founded OceanGate in 2009 with Stockton Rush, 61, who died last June when the Titan suffered a “catastrophic implosion” about an hour and 45 minutes into its dive to the Titanic wreckage site, which happened today a year ago.
Söhnlein was still open about his most ambitious exploration plans last June after the Titan crash.
He founded the Humans2Venus Foundation after leaving OceanGate in January 2020.
Unfazed by the fact that humans have yet to reach Mars, he believes the hottest planet in our solar system is ripe for colonization.
“I think it’s less ambitious than putting a million people on the surface of Mars by 2050,” he said. Business Insider at this time.
“It would raise eyebrows outside the space industry. And it’s even raising eyebrows in the space industry.
“Forget OceanGate. Forget Titan. Forget Stockton. Humanity may be on the brink of a major breakthrough and not take advantage of it because we, as a species, will be shut down and pushed back to the status quo.
“[Sending humans to Venus] … it’s ambitious, but I think it’s also very doable by 2050.”
As reported by Space.com, experts currently believe that human life on Venus is almost impossible.
According to the co-founder’s LinkedIn, his passion for exploring the unexplored has not diminished since the OceanGate debacle.
In January of this year, he founded Space Bridge Partners, a company that connects commercial investors with an interest in space exploration with missions.
Söhnlein’s LinkedIn also reveals that he was no longer working for OceanGate at the time of the Titan disaster last June, having terminated his position as COO in January 2013.
