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Published online 28 November 2007 | Nature 450, 606-608 (2007) | doi:10.1038/450606a
News Feature
Space and astronomy: The girl next door
Hanging bright in the morning sky, Venus's allure is obvious; but its blasted surface looks too hot to handle. Eric Hand investigates the difficulties of returning to the closest planet - and new plans to reap the rewards of doing so.
The panorama is distorted and claustrophobic, overcast by a thunder-in-the-air gloom. Flat rocks fill the view, framed by the menacing, serrated teeth of the spacecraft and a patch of yellow sky.
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Just curious to know if Hand has read Geoffrey Landis' recent proposals concerning further exploration of the Earth-like conditions of the upper Venusian atmosphere - they make a pretty compelling case to focus at least as much upon Venus as we have been on Mars.