Terraform Venus!

[SagaLore]

I started another site, blah blah blah, new domain, blah blah blah - you know the drill.

I have a little obsessive compulsive streak going on with the terraforming of venus. When I try and research it, popular opinion is its a waste of time. So there are few sites talking about it. But I disagree! Its are best chance!

So anyway, I found a theme I want to use, and its working fine except one issue. I'm trying to get the main table to expand 100%, but when you go to the specific article something is limiting the width again. For example:

http://www.terraformvenus.com/ (good)

http://www.terraformvenus.com/article.php/terraforming-venus (bad)

Can someone help me figure this out? I've looked at the rendered source and I'm wondering if the theme author made a few typos...

 

[Eeezee]

Wait, why do you want to terraform Venus when Mars is such a better choice? If you know even basic facts about Venus you'll know that it'd probably be easier to terraform Mercury (I don't know why you would want to though).

If you're able to terraform Venus then you'll essentially have found a solution to Earth's global warming problem, for which you'll receive a nobel prize undoubtedly.

 

[libs0n]

I say we should crash Mars into Venus, with the resulting planetoid's mass roughly equivalent to Earth's, and thus a 1g environment. A second Earth, and perhaps we could find a moon in the solar system of similar size to our own to top it off. I really think gravity is an overlooked component in the terraforming debate; those born and raised in reduced gravity fields most likely will be confined to them for the remainder of their lives, separated from the rest of humanity; a rather unethical path to pursue in my eyes. Actually, I don't know whether the combination would result in a 1g environment, the math is for someone else to figure out.

Consider your site bookmarked, Venusian.

 

[Minjin]

Step one is to get rid of the phrase: Venetian Terraformation...

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Wait, why do you want to terraform Venus when Mars is such a better choice? If you know even basic facts about Venus you'll know that it'd probably be easier to terraform Mercury (I don't know why you would want to though).

If you're able to terraform Venus then you'll essentially have found a solution to Earth's global warming problem, for which you'll receive a nobel prize undoubtedly.

Earth doesn't have a global warming "problem".

I strongly believe Mars is harder to terraform because of its already very thin atmosphere and 1/3 gravity. The runaway greenhouse effect on Venus is simply due to its thick carbon dioxide atmosphere. Get the carbon out of the atmosphere, leaving more oxygen. Then break down the sulfuric acid from the clouds, pull out the hydrogen, combine with oxygen, now we have some water. All can be done with various microbes.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: libs0n
I say we should crash Mars into Venus, with the resulting planetoid's mass roughly equivalent to Earth's, and thus a 1g environment.

Moving around planetary objects is just not in our realm of technological reach right now...

Venus is already close to 1g.

For us to start terraforming Venus in this century, we need to work with what we got. And I say everything we need can be done using various single cell organisms.

 

[libs0n]

Well, considering we haven't even cracked the egg in the chicken-egg problem of cheap access to space, everything is beyond the realm of possibility and just an idea to be bandied about. Your idea is Mount Logan, mine is Mount Everest, neither of us has yet to climb a small hill. The method I had in mind was similar to the momentum exchange manouvers performed by the exploration probes sent off by humanity, wherein the device "steals" some change in velocity from a planet to quicken its journey, only writ large. I first came across the concept in an article about the cooling of the Earth in the face of the expansion of the sun: every 6,000 years or so an asteroid would be diverted to perform this manouver, and each time the Earth's orbit would be pushed back somewhat into a more temperate zone. As I said, I'm not one to figure out the exact details, and there would be plenty of details to figure out.

I had it in my head that Venus' gravity was seven tenths ours, but googling showed that it's 91%. Not as big of a deal as I first thought. My case more applies to Mars, and I certainly agree that Venus is a far better candidate than that dreadful rock. Interesting that Mars' mass is 11% of Earth's and yet she has .38% Earth gravity; I'll admit that I have yet to educate myself or be educated on the physics of gravity.

I've heard of your concept of microbial terraformation of Venus' atmosphere before, but by my recollection it had some problems. How would you sequester the carbon from your oxygen rich atmosphere so that it doesn't burn and recombine, and where does the nitrogen come from?

Eezee, a sunshade could be considered a solution to the global warming problem, and such devices have been proposed as remedies for both Earth's and Venus' problems. For Earth, I prefer the 'stop burning sources of carbon for energy' solution.

 

[libs0n]

Of course, my concept is more planet building, with the terraforming of the resulting mass. I should say I'm the sort who prefers the building of gigantic rotating space stations, aka an O'Neillian. The seeding of the clouds of Venus with life to change it's composition is an intriguing idea nonetheless, and I'm sure it has merit and will be used in the eventual colonization of the planet, should it ever occur.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: libs0n
I've heard of your concept of microbial terraformation of Venus' atmosphere before, but by my recollection it had some problems. How would you sequester the carbon from your oxygen rich atmosphere so that it doesn't burn and recombine, and where does the nitrogen come from?

Plants. We have to get the carbon back into the ground, in some other form. The surface has a lack of tectonic activity, and seems to only occasionally have fits of volcanic eruption. Since we think Venus crust is similar to Earth's, then we still have various hydrogen compounds available to help pull the oxygen back into water.

Just for you:

http://www.terraformvenus.com/article.php/atmosphere-composition

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: libs0n
I say we should crash Mars into Venus, with the resulting planetoid's mass roughly equivalent to Earth's, and thus a 1g environment. A second Earth, and perhaps we could find a moon in the solar system of similar size to our own to top it off. I really think gravity is an overlooked component in the terraforming debate; those born and raised in reduced gravity fields most likely will be confined to them for the remainder of their lives, separated from the rest of humanity; a rather unethical path to pursue in my eyes. Actually, I don't know whether the combination would result in a 1g environment, the math is for someone else to figure out.

Consider your site bookmarked, Venusian.

A planet with the same mass as Earth wouldn't necessarily have the same 1g environment. The density of the planet is just as important (or, if you wish, the size of the planet). Saturn has approximately 100 times the mass of Earth, yet gravity on Saturn is only about 10% more than g on Earth.

 

[DrPizza]

Incidentally, where are you getting the hydrogen from to make water?

Also, as far as cooling goes, have you attempted to calculate how long it would take to cool the surface sufficiently, once such a project was started? (I'm guessing somewhere on the order of a million years... )

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Incidentally, where are you getting the hydrogen from to make water?

Hydrogen from the sulfuric acid in the clouds, hydrogen compounds in the crust. Its too bad that most of the hydrogen got pushed out into space but I think we can recover.

Also, as far as cooling goes, have you attempted to calculate how long it would take to cool the surface sufficiently, once such a project was started? (I'm guessing somewhere on the order of a million years... )

Calculations aren't my strong point. I can guess, you can guess - I prefer to be optimistic and assume with exponential microbial growth, we can sufficiently cool Venus this century. It would be a chain reaction of events.