My great uncle used to muse how the German pows had better treatment than he did as a black man.

Well, they (Soviets, not NASA) kinda did back on the 80s. Vega.

> The success of the Nevada tests suggests the aerobot could float high above Venus for weeks or even months, ample time for monitoring the atmosphere for acoustic waves generated by venusquakes and analyzing the chemical composition of the planet’s clouds, among other missions goals, with all of the gathered data beamed back to Earth via the accompanying orbiter.

>Balloons have been seen as a viable method for Venus exploration ever since the Soviets successfully used such a design as part of the twin Soviet Vega 1 and 2 missions in 1985. The two helium-filled balloons sailed on the Venusian winds for just over 46 hours before their instruments’ batteries ran out.

These ones will last longer. That’s the difference.

The atmosphere did less thick the higher in orbit you get, just like earth. So less pressure, less heat and less corrosive.

So in theory at least there a sweet spot that would allow for us to investigate from the air for extended periods of time.