Cities in the sky

Axel wrote:

>Some years ago I imagined to settle venus like that. Floating
facilities just above the clouds, riding the jet streams that circle
venus every dozens of hours (IIRC). Getting power from wind speed
differences.

Venus is good for this. At just under 50km above the ground, the
atmospheric pressure is equivalent to that at the Earth's surface, and
the temperature is around 40C. However, that's in the middle of the
sulphuric-acid-droplet clouds.

Above these, in clear air around the 75km mark, the temperature is about
-70C and the pressure about 20mb. Perfect for high-altitude ballooning,
and solar arrays would work a treat with twice the Earth's insolation.
Just don't fall off. ;-)

>When will you tell us about the magical trick to make the airship to
orbit work?

The article points to the use of an ion-engine to slowly accelerate the
craft once lift=0, in the very thin high atmosphere. I guess as speeds
increase the dynamic lift increases and you can s-l-o-w-l-y fly the last
bit.

Andy