NASA wants to explore Venus with inflatable air-born «habitats»

«A lighter-than-air vehicle can carry either a host of instruments and probes, or a habitat and ascent vehicle for a crew of two astronauts to explore Venus for up to a month.»
According to the American space agency, a mission to Venus would require less time than a similar manned mission to Mars. The moon remains the only natural satellite man has set foot on. «A recent internal NASA study of a High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC) led to the development of an evolutionary program for the exploration of Venus, with focus on the mission architecture and vehicle concept for a 30 day crewed mission into Venus’s atmosphere,» said a statement from NASA’s Space Mission Analysis Branch (SMAB). «The atmosphere of Venus is an exciting destination for both further scientific study and future human exploration,» said SMAB. News: NASA’s Space Mission Analysis Branch has unveiled a research project to send astronauts to Venus, envisioning «lighter-than-air» pods that could hover above the clouds to house explorers. Published on a   NASA website, a movie and an accompanying image show a conceptual design for inflatable silver blimp-like air balloons for working and living that would house two astronauts for up to a month   in the upper atmosphere of the planet Venus. Earlier this year, NASA revealed it had managed to create the first 3D-printed object in space, with a machine on the International Space Station. «Key technical challenges for the mission include performing the aerocapture manoeuvres at Venus and Earth, inserting and inflating the airship at Venus, and protecting the solar panels and structure from the sulphuric acid in the atmosphere.»
NASA said that there would need to be «advances in technology» and «further refinement» of the concept before it could actually proceed.