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>We can survive in Martian temperatures that occur on Earth with nothing more than well-insulated clothing. But we need pressurized suits to survive on Mars. M
by 6d6b73 9y ago
>We can survive in Martian temperatures that occur on Earth with nothing more than well-insulated clothing.
But we need pressurized suits to survive on Mars. Mars is really not a smart place to colonize. Clouds of Venus are much nicer.
- rory096 9y agoAn atmosphere full of sulfuric acid and no ground (with all the resources you can extract from it) is far worse than a low-pressure environment.
- 6d6b73 9y agoIt's full of carbon dioxide, and amount of sulfuric acid is negligible, plus that acid can be used to extract water. On Mars you have sand storms, which are more dangerous to people and equipment. Resources can be brought from asteroids. Mars is not only low pressure,but also low gravity, high radiation environment. Venus colony could be powered by solar power, as it's much closer to Sun, on Mars it would be much harder to generate power.
- baq 9y agoIt's going to be a tad more difficult to be a launch pad on Venus to get back home, though.
- 6d6b73 9y agoCare to explain why? You are 50 km above the surface all the time, so half the trip (when compared to Earth) is already behind you.
- ceejayoz 9y agoSure, but you're taking off in a rocket from a balloon.
- maxerickson 9y agoWhat does that matter? It's not like rockets launched from the surface spend a long time pushing on the planet.
- ceejayoz 9y agoYou wouldn't be even the littlest bit dubious of taking off from an inflatable balloon with a big fiery rocket where the launch abort is liable to drop you into lead-melting temperatures and nine atmospheres of pressure?
- maxerickson 9y agoProbably not any more uncomfortable than I'd be with the prospect of aborting a surface launch. There's probably some trick to do with the crew portion of the rocket too, where it could be buoyant before it got down to 9 atmospheres.
- carleverett 9y agoSorry to burst your bubble, but most of Venus's water was lost to space a long time ago :(
- 6d6b73 9y agoThere is atomic oxygen, a lot of CO2, even water vapors (appox 20ppm) in the atmosphere. Sulfuric acid can remove water from many compounds, plus sulfuric acid will decompose to water and sulfur trioxide at the right temperature.
- LeifCarrotson 9y agoIt's much easier to maintain an internal pressure against an external vacuum than it is to maintain an internal low pressure against an external high pressure. Mechanically, the former is much stronger - tension is easier to manage than compression, so catastrophic failures are less likely. Also, if you suffer a minor failure, it's fairly easy to maintain pressure just by releasing a little more air into the system. On Venus, a small puncture will hiss with sulfuric acid. Forced to choose between fighting cold and low pressure or fighting heat, high pressure, and fighting gravity that wants you to plummet 50 km through the acid clouds....I'd pick the Martian colony, thank you very much!
- tangent128 9y agoYou don't have to maintain a pressure differential on Venus- oxygen is a lifting gas in the comfortable sections of Venus's atmosphere. Hot air balloons are a well-understood technology.
- sampo 9y agoThey wrote "clouds of Venus". Meaning floating cities high in the atmosphere of Venus, at a level where the air density is about one Earth atmosphere.