Revised "Worlds for Man - Venus" up on Fantastic Worlds

[jordan179]

I edited and added to my 2007 "Worlds for Man - Venus" essay and posted it to Fantastic WorldsVenus is in many ways a disappointment. The cllosest separate planet to the Earth, with almost the size and mass of the Earth, with the gravity to retain a thick atmosphere, Venus should be a prime choice for colonization. But the planet's proximity to the

Comments

[polaris93]

An excellent overview of the geology and natural history of Venus as well as the possibilities for colonization and exploitation. But there is another possibility, which you didn't discuss, and that is moving Venus farther out from the Sun, perhaps into a Trojan relationship with Mars (i.e., in Martian orbit, but 120 degrees away from Mars along that orbit), perhaps by using a smaller body, such as an asteroid, as a gravity tractor. This would allow Venus to cool down relatively rapidly, and combined with such things as impacts by ice moons or icy comets, the cooling could be speeded up considerably. It would then be much easier to terraform Venus. How to do this without disturbing Earth's orbit too much is not something I know, and might be impossible, in which case that solution -- wouldn't be a solution. But it is a possibility.

One other thing: something kept the runaway global warming of the End Permian from continuing until Earth resembled Venus. At the same time, something kept it from becoming so thoroughgoing, though