By: Kerry Ding

“Concordia is a city on Venus, with a population of 3 million! It is a beautiful cloud city sitting at the top of the Venusian atmosphere with an ionosphere that protects us humans from solar radiation. If you plan to visit, Concordia is quite balmy with an average of 82 degrees Fahrenheit, or 28 degrees Celsius, so bring summer clothes. Concordia was named after an ancient Roman goddess, Concordia. She stands for peace and civilization. Anyway, that’s all for today’s city review!”

Alex clicked onto the next video about Concordia. He was paying extra attention. Alex was on a month-long trip to see the beautiful cloud city of Concordia in the Venusian upper atmosphere. Around him, his sister, Katie, was playing a virtual reality game and his parents were busy booking everything they needed. They barely remembered the fact that they were flying through space at thousands of miles per hour.

Their trip began with the company of Alex’s dad awarding his dad a free pass to go to Venus with his family. They flew to the spaceport and hopped on a spacecraft (after going through security, of course). The flight would take two weeks. Their ship was grabbed by a massive space tether that slinged their ship right at where Venus would be in two weeks. A space tether is a giant string connected to a weight with a hook at the end. It uses the Earth’s rotational energy to propel the objects it picks up.

The journey to Venus was anything but boring. They were served some amazing views. However, Katie didn’t stop complaining how she “couldn’t play with her friends because her game was so slow, because of the high ping”. So, she was forced to play some games that her parents had brought to distract her.

Meanwhile, Alex was learning about the city and scheduling what tourist attractions they would visit. Of course, they would take the SkyTour, a business that let them rent a small zeppelin to fly above Concordia. Perhaps they should visit the other cities like Concordia’s twin city, Harmonia (which was located on a different flying platform). He learned that the massive zeppelins holding the city were full of helium and covered with acid-retardant material that would protect against the sulfuric acid rain.

When the family finally landed at the Concordia Space Port, Alex excitedly stepped out of the spacecraft and walked through the foreign city. Knowing that their luggage was already at their hotel, they didn’t need to go claim it.

Walking outside, they were greeted by amazing views of the clouds. Small zeppelins and carplanes flew about in the sky. The platforms had no roads, and instead there were long pathways that contained zeppelins and blimps like boats in a river. They took a floating blimp to their hotel and checked in. After waiting so long to come here, Alex was so excited about tomorrow’s day of adventure.

Image Credit by Andrea Mosti