VenusGate?

Via.

In fairness to Guillermo Sohnlein, he hasn’t actually been part of OceanGate for ten years, so he had no direct part in the recent debacle… but he also saw nothing wrong with what Stockton Rush did in said debacle, and has said he would’ve gone on the Titan sub himself if he’d had the chance. This frankly makes me fear for anyone he might convince to try out this Venus thing…

Venus is the warmest planet in the solar system. Its atmosphere is chock-full of carbon dioxide, its surface temperature could melt lead, and sulfuric acid rains down from its clouds. Its atmospheric pressure is crushing — more than 90 times that of Earth, according to NASA.
In spite of this, Söhnlein doesn’t see why humanity shouldn’t attempt to live on the planet. He points to research that suggests there is a sliver of the Venusian atmosphere about 30 miles from the surface where humans could theoretically survive because temperatures are lower and pressure is less intense.
If a space station could be designed to withstand the sulfuric acid in the clouds, Söhnlein says, hundreds to thousands of people could someday live in the Venusian atmosphere.
He says a floating colony could hold 1,000 people in the Venusian atmosphere by 2050, although exactly how this will happen is less clear.

…And why do I feel like it’ll involve similar cost-cutting and refusal to acknowledge criticism from industry professionals to OceanGate? I will admit to finding his vision fascinating, but I’d want evidence that this “sliver” of the atmosphere actually is useable before getting excited about it… and I’d be interested to see if Guillermo’s willing to follow in his old mate’s footsteps (whatever Rush’s failures, at least he wasn’t afraid of getting on the Titan himself even if he should’ve been) and take the risk of going to Venus himself.