[NIAC 2025] Our Best Venus Map Is 36 Years Old. NASA Wants to Fix it With Balloons

Venus has a thick layer of clouds that obscures our view of the surface. To tackle that, this NIAC project suggests launching a balloon with a tether that will go below the cloud layer and help us image Venus surface. 🦄 Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/universetoday 🟣 Guest: Dr Benjamin Hockman https://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/who-we-are/people/benjamin_hockman/ NIAC Award. TOBIAS: Tethered Observatory for Balloon-based Imaging and Atmospheric Sampling https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/niac/tobias-tethered-observatory-for-balloon-based-imaging-and-atmospheric-sampling/ 00:00 Intro 01:37 Upper atmosphere of Venus 20:23 Possible Sample Collection 21:52 Upcoming Venus missions 25:18 NIAC project goals 26:58 Current obsessions 📺 VIDEO VERSION https://youtu.be/BePPHPj6uo8 📰 GUIDE TO SPACE Newsletter No ads. Subscribe for FREE: https://universetoday.com/newsletter 🎧 PODCASTS Universe Today: https://universetoday.fireside.fm/ Astronomy Cast: http://www.astronomycast.com/ 📩 CONTACT FRASER frasercain@gmail.com ⚖️ LICENSE Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Support Universe Today Podcast