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The insane air-pressure ruins it. Basically, the solution to terraforming Venus is to convert the CO2 into water. The problem is that this requires hydrogen t
by Pxtl 10y ago
The insane air-pressure ruins it. Basically, the solution to terraforming Venus is to convert the CO2 into water. The problem is that this requires hydrogen that's not readily available to do it. A lot of it.
How much?
At 1 Earth atmosphere, imagine a balloon filled with Hydrogen the size of the planet Mars. It would take two of those.
But then you could scrape enough CO2 out of the atmosphere to make oceans and Earth pressure.
- cgriswald 10y agoA few years ago I read a paper that suggested freezing the CO2 out of the atmosphere, covering it with a layer of thermally-insulating material, and then putting oceans of liquid water on top of it to keep it sequestered. [0] [0] - http://www.orionsarm.com/fm_store/TerraformingVenusQuickly.pdf http://www.orionsarm.com/fm_store/TerraformingVenusQuickly.p...
- aaron_m04 10y agoIs that a good long-term solution? Can the CO2 just be left there forever?
- cgriswald 10y agoThe long term solution (per the paper) is to harvest the CO2. The paper states the CO2 will melt over time, but not as quickly as it can be harvested, and that water may even be poured in to melt it faster.
- ccozan 10y agoBut who on Earth is so fond of CO2? right, plants via photosyntesis. So why not sending green algae on Venus to harvest that CO2? When the temp drops, send something else, like trees. Quite SF, but would worth a calculation.
- colechristensen 10y agoIf you want plants to do it, you need water, and there isn't any. The solar wind blew it all away. Not just because "plants need water", because the chemistry is CO2 + H20 => O2 + carbohydrate
- ccozan 10y agoIndeed, you are right. Interesing link on this subject [1], it explains a bit more in detail the greenhouse runway process. [1] http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/physics/astrocourses/AST101/readings/water_on_venus.html http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/physics/astrocourses/AST101/re...
- saalweachter 10y agoPlants can't photosynthesize without water. No hydrogen, no water, no photosynthesis to take CO2 out of the atmosphere.
- twic 10y agoI would have thought you'd do it by making limestone. You just need lots of calcium for that.