Writing in his Humans2Venus blog, he added: “The reality is that Venus is much closer to Earth and has a much more similar orbit, which makes it much more accessible than Mars (lower cost, more frequent flight windows, shorter transit times, higher safety, etc.).
“Also, we don’t have to worry about conducting successful landings on the planet’s surface, which is one of the biggest challenges awaiting us on Mars.
“If anything, one could argue that sending humans to Venus BEFORE sending them to Mars might be a better way to safely develop the capabilities to create a Martian community.”
Mr Söhnlein has previously said he was in the “early phases” of a development program that designed predecessor subs to Titan, but was not involved in the design of Titan itself.
He founded Humans2Venus in 2020, aiming to create “the largest global community of general and professional Venus enthusiasts.”
Mr Söhnlein told Business Insider in June last year that he wants to see 1,000 people on Venus by 2050.
He said: “Forget OceanGate. Forget Titan. Forget Stockton. Humanity could be on the verge of a big breakthrough and not take advantage of it because we, as a species, are gonna get shut down and pushed back into the status quo.
“[Sending humans to Venus] … it is aspirational, but I think it’s also very doable by 2050.”
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