Venus was once thought to be similar in condition to Earth and is a similar size.
But over the course of its 4.6 billion year history, greenhouse gasses have taken its toll on the boiling hot planet – which is now even hotter than Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun.
Temperatures on Venus exceed 460 degrees celsius thanks to volcanic activity and a thick, heavy atmosphere that is full of carbon dioxide.
But this has not deterred NASA from a manned mission to Venus and officials hope to put an inflatable lab in orbit above the clouds.
A team from the space agency have established Project HAVOC, which stands for “High Altitude Venus Operational Concept” – but NASA has yet to offer a clue as to when the mission will begin.
Gareth Dorrian, Post Doctoral Research Associate in Space Science, and Ian Whittaker, Lecturer, both at Nottingham Trent University, believe Venus’s atmosphere is the “Earth-like location in the solar system.
“Between altitudes of 50km and 60km, the pressure and temperature can be compared to regions of the Earth’s lower atmosphere.”
For this reason, the duo are hopeful NASA will find alien life there.
They write in an article for The Conversation: “Certainly surface conditions of Venus seem utterly inhospitable to any kind of life.
“The upper atmosphere is a different story however. Certain kinds of extremophile organisms already exist on Earth which could withstand the conditions in the atmosphere at the altitude at which HAVOC would fly.
“Species such as Acidianus infernus can be found in highly acidic volcanic lakes in Iceland and Italy. Airborne microbes have also been found to exist in Earth’s clouds.
“None of this proves that life exists in the Venusian atmosphere, but it is a possibility that could be investigated by a mission like HAVOC.”
NASA’s plan for HAVOC would see a rocket launched from Earth which contains the inflatable lab.
Once it arrives, the research station would separate from the rocket, where it would then deploy a parachute to lower itself nearer to Venus.
The potential research station would hover 50 kilometres above the acidic clouds of Venus where experts in the inflatable lab could analyse the planet and its clouds up close.
NASA said in a statement: “A lighter-than-air vehicle could 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.
“Such a mission would require less time to complete than a crewed Mars mission.”