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To: Rebel_Ace

A couple of small nits to pick:

1-The atmospheric pressure on Venus is 91 times that of Earth. An atmospheric probe that was sent was crushed.

2-No moon (tidal necessity)

3-Exceptionally weak magnetic field


27 posted on 08/05/2009 10:24:53 AM PDT by rjsimmon (1-20-2013 The Tree of Liberty Thirsts)
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To: rjsimmon
Well, no plan is perfect ;-)

About your "nits":

1-The atmospheric pressure on Venus is 91 times that of Earth. An atmospheric probe that was sent was crushed.

That's right. I mentioned sending bacteria to the planet once cooling was initiated, to change the composition of the atmosphere. The trick is to bind the Carbon to something that can be percipitated out of the air, and therefore shedding "mass" from the atmosphere. No, I do not know how to genetically engineer a bug to do this, but it seems within the realm of chemical possibility.

2-No moon (tidal necessity)

When you are done using the asteroid for "nudging" Venus around, you park in a rather low orbit around Venus, and voila! You have a moon to generate some tidal action.

3-Exceptionally weak magnetic field

Well, 3 things are possible here:
(a) For small colonies, we create artificial magnetic fields locally, to protect the folks from radiation.
(b) Since we have "spun up" Venus to a 24 hour (or so) rotational speed, we might find that the core of the planet will start generating a magnetic field like the Earth.
(c) If the "moon" we park around the planet is sufficiently massive, tidal effects might help start some "core" sloshing around in Venus, to stimulate magnetic field production.

However, you raise just 3 of many valid points, indicating why we are not about to embark on a Venusian terraforming project any time soon.
29 posted on 08/05/2009 12:12:10 PM PDT by Rebel_Ace (Tags?!? Tags?!? We don' neeeed no stinkin' Tags!)
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