[Thydaysuh]

It's a cold, dead ball of rock right now.

[NumDusthouh]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk


My fantasy on this topic involves engineering speciallized bacteria from undersea sulfer vents that convert CO2, sulfuric acid, and other parts of Venus' atmosphere into relatively inert sulfates and carbonates. The bugs would be seeded into the atmosphere, multiply rapidly, convert the atmosphere in short order, and conveniently die off as as pressure, temperature and chemistry go bad on them. Even if they could be GM'd to survive the Hellish conditions on the Vesuvian surface, that process would likely take thousands of years. Constructing and placing in orbit giant solar shades would cut that time down a great deal. Ice-asteroid bombing may help too.

But again, my concerns about native life creep in. I seriously doubt there is or ever has been life on Venus, but that assumes our type of life is all that can develope. Cooling the planet is really the only way we can set foot (robotic or booted) on the planet to reaserch it, but this may inadvertantly kill native life. But again, I doubt Venus has had any of its own.

[kiosokkn]

Eventually.

[fudelholf]

Originally posted by Dissident
mars will never be livable- not without constant resupply ships from earth. Then there's that line of reasoning. No way to prove nor disprove it until we try, but certainly worth considering.

I disagree. Initially yes, no colony would be 100% self-sufficient. But given enough time and enough concerted effort to terraforming, it should be possible to terraform Mars enough to be Human-livable. Pardon the pun, but I'm not holding my breath for a Human-breathable atmosphere on Mars, but a carbon-heavy atmosphere may be a better alternative that'll warm the planet and make plants happy. I'd consider terraforming Mars such that I need nothing more than an oxygen mask and a heavy coat to walk on the surface a success.

[huntbytnkbel]

My concern is for science being served, not Humanity's need for pretty flowering plants and fluffy bunnies. Mars presents a different climate to scientists to study. I'm thinking of the geologic features as well. Radically changing the atmosphere will irrevicably alter the landscape. Scientists ought to be able to study Mars before we drastically change it to suit our biological and psychological needs. Who knows if we'll ever reach the stars and have an opportunity to study such climates or geographies again. Then there's also the matter of any native Martian life, either presently living or ancient. Might it not behoove use to research such things before tinkering with the planet? I'm all for terraform Mars one day, but in due time. Far too often Humanity has sought to change things without using proper caution or studying what they're doing before they do it and thus paying a price for it later.

[Ceakicknunk]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs


If a Soviet probe, made of metal that survived reentry, melts a few hour after it lands on Venus' surface, what are the chances of a balloon floating anywhere for any length of time in the planet's atmosphere? Own goal. Venus' atmosphere gets cooler as altitude increases, much like Earth's.

[MadMark]

Originally posted by Wittlich
I think this is a very intriguing idea! What does everyone else think? I,too, think it is a very intriguing idea. Also think your original post is far too long

[Qzmsdoem]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
The main advantage Mars has, oddly enough, is it's gravity well. People could live there without fear of the degenerative disorders that plague astronauts spending even relatively short times in microgravity.

Of course, that gravity well makes tranport to Earth more difficult, so why complicate matters further with a thick atmosphere to plough through, along with the assortment of storms you get whenever you have a sizable atmosphere? Given this Administration's obsession with unmanned robtic drones for the military (not a bad thing, I do support such research), is it not reasonable to assume that either the government or private sector will develope the means to robotically mine out there or even just bring the rocks closer to Earth/Luna or Mars to make them easier to mine manually?

[ClapekDodki]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs
My concern is for science being served, not Humanity's need for pretty flowering plants and fluffy bunnies. That's nonsense and you know it

Originally posted by DRoseDARs
Mars presents a different climate to scientists to study. I'm thinking of the geologic features as well. Radically changing the atmosphere will irrevicably alter the landscape. We got plenty of cold, dead balls of rocks around in the solar system. Bring on the greenhouse gases, I say.

[allaboutauto.us]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


There's nothing to mine on Mars that we don't have large quantities on earth, and it's much more cost efficient to do it here. So the best thing to do is to just to have pretty flowers and fluffy bunnies on it. Only if everything we're mining on Mars is destined for Earth's surface. Once you commit to developing off-world, even Earth orbit, you pay a hell of a premium on everything we send through our atmosphere and gravity well.

Which reminds me...

Moon first, then Mars!

[ketNavatutt]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs
They'd have to be engineered to survive Vesuvian conditions in the first place before they could evolve. If you could mimic Vesuvian conditions in an isolated medium, you could gradually get them to evolve to survive in that environment. To get them to fix whatever you want fixed would probably require engineering.

[PymnImmen]

Nay, Mars AND Luna at the same time! No good reason we can't try both.

[ZZtop]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs


We are in partial agreement. The planet is far hotter than anything we have the ability to protect ourselves or unmanned scientific insturments against for any reasonable amount of time. Our sh*t just melts a few hours after landing. My fantasy on this topic involves engineering speciallized bacteria from undersea sulfer vents that convert CO2, sulfuric acid, and other parts of Venus' atmosphere into relatively inert sulfates and carbonates. The bugs would be seeded into the atmosphere, multiply rapidly, convert the atmosphere in short order, and conveniently die off as as pressure, temperature and chemistry go bad on them.

[valensds]

Colonizing space is not a matter of economics to me, it is a matter of survival. Evolution has clearly demonstrated that the more a species expands, whether geographically, or in terms of habitat or food source, the longer it survives in this universe.

We thrive because we have managed to exploit nearly every crack and crevice this planet has to offer. We are immune to most catastrophes this world has to offer, because there is little here now that could hit every region, and every food supply.

Still, there are still threats out there, that can kill us off on a planetary scale.

The only real long-term countermeasure for this is the same one that has served us so well for so long.

Expand into new territories, or as in this case, new worlds.

[Siffidiolla]

mars will never be livable- not without constant resupply ships from earth.

[putza]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Colonizing space is not a matter of economics to me, it is a matter of survival. Evolution has clearly demonstrated that the more a species expands, whether geographically, or in terms of habitat or food source, the longer it survives in this universe.

We thrive because we have managed to exploit nearly every crack and crevice this planet has to offer. We are immune to most catastrophes this world has to offer, because there is little here now that could hit every region, and every food supply.

Still, there are still threats out there, that can kill us off on a planetary scale.

The only real long-term countermeasure for this is the same one that has served us so well for so long.

Expand into new territories, or as in this case, new worlds. Thank you. I keep forgetting to make this point, despite it being the biggest, most important point thing for me in this whole field of discussion.

[jokiruss]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk


Given the rate at which these things seem to go, I expect there will be plenty of time for research, even if we attempt to industrialize Mars at the fastest possible rate.

It is an entire planet, after all. Ergo my wariness and not opposition. Frankly, mining the Asteroid Belt would be more efficient and profitable imo. I have no facts to back this up.