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Couldn't we just build a MegaMaid and suck the atmosphere out? If we're going to go sci-fi, it seem easier to hoover it out than capture an asteroid and nick th

Couldn't we just build a MegaMaid and suck the atmosphere out? If we're going to go sci-fi, it seem easier to hoover it out than capture an asteroid and nick the atmosphere just right.

shepardrtc 2y ago
Something like a solar powered space elevator that just blows atmosphere into the sun
- bdamm 2y ago
  That would require a lot of energy to ensure the gasses escape Venus' gravitational pull, which would in turn effectively be a rocket. So then we'd be adjusting to ensure we don't mess with Venus' orbit too much.
  - p1mrx 2y ago
    We can avoid orbital drift through the magic of building two of them.
  - gcanyon 2y ago
    Venus outweighs its atmosphere by about 10,000 times. This is actually less than I thought -- for comparison Earth outweighs its atmosphere by over 1,000,000 times, which is still far less than I would have guessed. Venus's escape velocity is less than 1/3rd of its orbital velocity. According to google, Venus's orbit, despite being very circular, causes its velocity to vary by a KM/s from aphelion to perihelion. So I believe you could send all of Venus's atmosphere off permanently into space at the cost of about 1/30,000th of Venus's orbital velocity, meaning you could very slightly circularize its orbit further.
    - hinkley 2y ago
      Spinning it up would be handy.
BuyMyBitcoins 2y ago
Then, move the MegaMaid into an orbit around Mars and go from suck to blow. Venus has too much atmosphere, Mars has too little. Win Win.
- moron4hire 2y ago
  It wouldn't do Mars any good. Lacking a magnetosphere, any atmosphere you add will get stripped away by the Sun.
  - irrational 2y ago
    I’ve read that a large asteroid could be positioned at a particular Mars L point and it would protect the planets atmosphere from being stripped by the sun.
    - andrewflnr 2y ago
      I've read something similar, but I believe it has to be an asteroid with a magnetic field, whether permanent or electromagnet.
  - adrianN 2y ago
    The atmosphere will be stripped away over a time period of millions of years though.
  - hinkley 2y ago
    The estimate I heard is it would take 100,000 years for the atmosphere to be stripped off. That’s a long long time.

Couldn't we just build a MegaMaid and suck the atmosphere out? If we're going to go sci-fi, it seem easier to hoover it out than capture an asteroid and nick the atmosphere just right.

shepardrtc 2y ago

Something like a solar powered space elevator that just blows atmosphere into the sun

bdamm 2y ago
That would require a lot of energy to ensure the gasses escape Venus' gravitational pull, which would in turn effectively be a rocket. So then we'd be adjusting to ensure we don't mess with Venus' orbit too much.
- p1mrx 2y ago
  We can avoid orbital drift through the magic of building two of them.
- gcanyon 2y ago
  Venus outweighs its atmosphere by about 10,000 times. This is actually less than I thought -- for comparison Earth outweighs its atmosphere by over 1,000,000 times, which is still far less than I would have guessed. Venus's escape velocity is less than 1/3rd of its orbital velocity. According to google, Venus's orbit, despite being very circular, causes its velocity to vary by a KM/s from aphelion to perihelion. So I believe you could send all of Venus's atmosphere off permanently into space at the cost of about 1/30,000th of Venus's orbital velocity, meaning you could very slightly circularize its orbit further.
  - hinkley 2y ago
    Spinning it up would be handy.

BuyMyBitcoins 2y ago

Then, move the MegaMaid into an orbit around Mars and go from suck to blow. Venus has too much atmosphere, Mars has too little. Win Win.

moron4hire 2y ago
It wouldn't do Mars any good. Lacking a magnetosphere, any atmosphere you add will get stripped away by the Sun.
- irrational 2y ago
  I’ve read that a large asteroid could be positioned at a particular Mars L point and it would protect the planets atmosphere from being stripped by the sun.
  - andrewflnr 2y ago
    I've read something similar, but I believe it has to be an asteroid with a magnetic field, whether permanent or electromagnet.
- adrianN 2y ago
  The atmosphere will be stripped away over a time period of millions of years though.
- hinkley 2y ago
  The estimate I heard is it would take 100,000 years for the atmosphere to be stripped off. That’s a long long time.