All Seeing Eye
Admiral
I actually have an idea for Terraforming venus.
Creating A Planet
- Thread starter All Seeing Eye
- Start date
I actually have an idea for Terraforming venus.
IIRC, the thought is that Venus is mostly covered in liquid. Great place to park a houseboat.
I thought Venus had essentially no liquid on its surface, due to the high temperatures? It would take enormous pressure to keep anything in a liquid state there.
Venus features a rocky surface. Those clever Rooskies got some pictures of it back in the 1970's:
http://www.mentallandscape.com/C_CatalogVenus.htm
http://www.mentallandscape.com/C_CatalogVenus.htm
Actually, no. If it formed there, then it would be. But as I said, current thinking is that dozens of planets may have formed in the inner system and been ejected by Jovian migration. There could be planets out there with size and composition similiar to Venus, Earth, and Mars. And large planets have internal heat, cores that are molten due to the heat of their formation and the radioisotopes they contain. The larger the planet, the longer it takes to cool off. As I believe I already mentioned up above, it's possible that a trans-Neptunian planet, or even a rogue planet ejected entirely into interstellar space, could retain internal heat for billions of years. It could theoretically be habitable on the surface, or at the very least could have life-bearing oceans under a crust of ice.
Well, yes, if its density is different, there would be variations in the level of gravity. But if we're talking about a planet of terrestrial composition, i.e. mostly silicates and metal like a planet formed in the inner system rather than largely made of ice like a body formed further out, then there wouldn't be that much variation in the possible gravity.
Now, Earth is basically 67.5% silicates and 32.5% iron (to simplify). If a planet of Earth's mass were made entirely of silicates, it would have a radius 1.04 times that of Earth and a surface gravity of 0.925g. If a one-Earth-mass planet were 70% iron like Mercury, it would have a radius 0.88 times Earth's and a surface gravity of 1.29g. So we're not talking about that huge a swing in gravity levels. The only way an Earth-sized planet would be wildly different from Earth gravity is if it were made mostly of ice, which isn't going to happen if it was formed in the inner system.
Uhh, yeah, that was the thought fifty years ago, before we used radar to map its surface and sent probes to land there. We've known since the 1960s that Venus is the driest place in the Solar System, hellishly hot and arid.
Guess I've been out of the loop. Oh well, it sounds like a terrific place to build an A-frame
Guess I've been out of the loop. Oh well, it sounds like a terrific place to build an A-frame
Better have some nifty materials since Venus is hot enough melt lead.
Guess I've been out of the loop. Oh well, it sounds like a terrific place to build an A-frame
Better have some nifty materials since Venus is hot enough melt lead.
Should have picked a better metal. Lead has a relatively low melting temperature
Colonel Mustard, on Venus with the... Oh, hell!
Bet the SUN is drier! *heh*
Being nearly all hydrogen, isn't it technically 2/3rds water?
Guess I've been out of the loop. Oh well, it sounds like a terrific place to build an A-frame
Better have some nifty materials since Venus is hot enough melt lead.
The 200 atmosphere air pressure and sulphuric acid in said atmosphere doesn't help either.
Being nearly all hydrogen, isn't it technically 2/3rds water?
No. Water is a molecule consisting of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Take away the oxygen and it isn't water anymore, it's just hydrogen.
Guess I've been out of the loop. Oh well, it sounds like a terrific place to build an A-frame
Better have some nifty materials since Venus is hot enough melt lead.
The 200 atmosphere air pressure and sulphuric acid in said atmosphere doesn't help either.
So I'll install thermal pane windows.
Being nearly all hydrogen, isn't it technically 2/3rds water?
Yeah, in the same sense the space shuttle runs off water since it's fuel tanks are H2.
Just make sure you have a nice Wagner Powerwasher. You don't want to know what sulfuric acid rain can do to vinyl siding.
I guess there's no need for us to actually explore the Kupier Belt as you seem to know all about what's there already.
Why can't large rocky planets be hiding out there?
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Wouldn't any large bodies (I mean planet sized or approaching planet-sized) bodies just about ANYWHERE in the solar system reveal themselves based on their gravitational influence if they were rocky or even much more than just balls of loosely congealed slush?
Guess I've been out of the loop. Oh well, it sounds like a terrific place to build an A-frame
Although an awful lot of the water from its oceans is still in the atmos, so the story isn't as simple as it's being painted here.
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Being nearly all hydrogen, isn't it technically 2/3rds water?
No. Water is a molecule consisting of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Take away the oxygen and it isn't water anymore, it's just hydrogen.
Well, if we're nitpicking, given the typical ionization state, the Sun is roughly 73% protons and 25% alpha particles by mass (based on the photospheric composition).
