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> In the long term it might be easier to terraform a planet like Venus than it is to terraform a planet like mars. One day on Venus is 224.65 Earth days. You w
by sprash 5y ago
> In the long term it might be easier to terraform a planet like Venus than it is to terraform a planet like mars.
One day on Venus is 224.65 Earth days. You won't be able to change that, even in the long term.
- throwaway0a5e 5y agoPlants grew just fine at the poles way back when the climate supported that. Humans and plenty of other animals have lived in the arctic for millennia. I don't think the day length is a big problem.
- holoduke 5y agoWeather maybe. The reason why we have wind is of course because of pressure differences. But those are also caused by the centrifugal powers moving air up and downwards in spirals. That would not happen in the same way on Venus
- thaumasiotes 5y agoAren't spiraling wind currents guaranteed by the Hairy Ball Theorem? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hairy_ball_theorem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hairy_ball_theorem
- Someone 5y agoYou may not have to. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming_of_Venus#Arguments_for_keeping_the_current_day-night_cycle_unchanged https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming_of_Venus#Argument...: “It has until recently been assumed that the rotation rate or day-night cycle of Venus would have to be increased for successful terraformation to be achieved. More recent research has shown, however, that the current slow rotation rate of Venus is not at all detrimental to the planet's capability to support an Earth-like climate. Rather, the slow rotation rate would, given an Earth-like atmosphere, enable the formation of thick cloud layers on the side of the planet facing the sun. This in turn would raise planetary albedo and act to cool the global temperature to Earth-like levels, despite the greater proximity to the Sun.”
- labster 5y agoHumans have already measurably changed the angular velocity of the Earth with dams. Not sure why you think it will never be possible to change angular momentum, you just need minor planet collisions and/or flywheels.
- zzt123 5y agoMeasurable but insignificant. It would take about 10^29 joules to speed Venus up to a 24h day. The Chicxulub impact is estimated at 10^24-10^25 joules. So we need 10k-100k Chicxulub impacts in such a way that the energy is perfectly translated into Venus’s rotational energy. That’s what, a billion tons of antimatter-matter reacting? I don’t think we’re going to have a 24 hour day on Venus anytime soon.
- jandrese 5y agoIt's not so much terraforming, but one idea for colonizing Venus is to live on giant airships that hang out in the upper atmosphere where the temperatures and pressures are temperate. You still need to deal with the nasty chemical composition of the atmosphere, but that might be doable somehow. Your airship also needs to be massive and sturdy enough to shrug off hundred mile an hour winds.