Expert blog: The Artemis 1 lunar mission aims to establish a human presence on the moon – here are five locations in our solar system humanity could venture to in the future

Artemis 1 test launches later this year with the expectation that it will carry humanity back to the moon for the first time in 50 years. With the additional increase in private space exploration could we start seeing more missions taking humanity throughout the solar system?

Here are the top five exciting locations humanity could be sent to, expanding our scientific knowledge of the solar system.

5: The Lunar surface

The lunar surface is a challenging environment to exist in. Having a very thin atmosphere means no protection from solar radiation andany astronauts doing a walk outside would need to time them so they avoid high solar activity. This comes in the form of radiation (e.g. X-rays in solar flares) but also in high energy particles. This risk factor is already well understood from many years of solar radiation measurements and cosmic ray data.

A major challenge of a lunar base is power. In science fiction solar cells have long been thought of as the main power supply but with the weight and relative inefficiency it would be difficult to get enough of them to the Moon. Far more likely is the use of nuclear power sources, in particular Radioisotope Thermal Generators (RTG). These devices have an unstable heavy element inside them which decays producing heat. The heat then transfers from the inside to the outside producing an electrical current. The efficiency of these depends on the temperature difference between the inside and outside of the generator, which means they are ideal in space but less effective on the surface of the Earth.

For example, an RTG containing Strontium-90 can reach about 800^oC. On the surface of the Earth (roughly 15^oC) this would give a maximum efficiency of about 64% while in space (-270^oC) this efficiency jumps to 99.8%.

4: The Venusian atmosphere

Living on Venus? Surely a crazy idea, but definitely possible. The surface of Venus is still largely unexplored or imaged due to a very thick hot atmosphere reflective to visible light, which is one reason why Venus is so bright in the sky. During the 1970s, Russia sent a number of missions to Venus to explore the surface, known as the Venera series. The results from these landers are the only photographic images of the surface we have. Unfortunately, due to the extremely high pressure at the surface these landers lasted anywhere between a couple of seconds to 90 minutes. As such, Venus surface exploration has always been seen as too costly. In 1990 Magellandid map out the surface using radar which showed pristine craters leading to theories about the surface reforming in a cyclical fashion over tens of thousands of years.

At 475^oC and a pressure of 95 bars (equivalent to being almost a km down in the ocean) the surface is no place for humans to survive – although interestingly it might be possible for hyperthermophilic bacteria to survive on the surface. So instead we look to the skies – at about 50km up the temperature and pressure are roughly the same as the Earth’s surface.

This means we could potentially send a research team to the Venusian atmosphere, although staying at that altitude is more tricky. An aircraft or similar would have problems with continuous power supply – so the answer would be an airship. As the conditions match the Earths’ surface, breathable air could be used as the lifting gas, meaning less requirements for transporting additional compressed gases.

A map of the surface of Venus taken using radar altimetry from the Magellan spacecraft