I think nuclear warheads are puny for this task.
I agree, I was thinking more on the scale of hundreds of times bigger than the Tsar Bomba.
Quote I think nuclear warheads are puny for this task.I agree, I was thinking more on the scale of hundreds of times bigger than the Tsar Bomba.
Thanks for doing that calculation. I was too lazy to do it. I knew that the power of even the most powerful nuclear weapon was magnitudes below what was required to remove a substantial part of the Venusian atmosphere (assuming the mechanism suggested would even work.) And I don't know if thermonuclear explosives can be arbitrarily scaled up to any yield.The obvious point comes back again and again, the amount of energy needed to radically alter the environment of Venus is so large that it is quite beyond our current civilisation.
If we're gonna sling that type of energy around we'd be better off on expending it to repair our own world and turn it into paradise.
How about we just stick with Sun Shade concepts for Venus to artificially create a 24 hour day, and freezing out the CO2?
We can simulate a 24 hour day by closing the curtains and switching lights on, even in greenhouses.Can we devise a micro-organism that can survive in Venus's atmosphere with a shiny skin that reflects the sun light back? The ability to convert CO2 into a solid object such as carbon would be nice.
Quote from: A_M_Swallow on 03/04/2012 05:22 pmWe can simulate a 24 hour day by closing the curtains and switching lights on, even in greenhouses.Can we devise a micro-organism that can survive in Venus's atmosphere with a shiny skin that reflects the sun light back? The ability to convert CO2 into a solid object such as carbon would be nice.As I said earlier: "Algae have had hundreds of millions of years to colonize the atmosphere of Earth but the sky is still blue."People keep coming up with the suggestion that all we need is some micro-organism that floats around in the atmosphere of Venus and ka-pow! Problem solved, well, nature hasn't solved that one on this planet, I doubt solving it in the Venusian atmosphere would be easier.
As I said earlier: "Algae have had hundreds of millions of years to colonize the atmosphere of Earth but the sky is still blue."
There are plenty of things floating around in the Earth's oceans. The density of Venus' atmosphere at the surface is 65 kg/m³ (6.5% that of water). So something may be able to float.
Quote from: Andrew_W on 03/05/2012 06:47 amAs I said earlier: "Algae have had hundreds of millions of years to colonize the atmosphere of Earth but the sky is still blue."Umm.. you are aware that all sorts of bacteria live in the sky, right? Including incredibly high altitudes.
Use the solar sails to reflect more Sun light on Venus to heat it up more to were some of the molecules will reach escape velocity ( concentrate the light on one area ). Once some of the atmosphere is removed the cool it by blocking the Sun with the solar sails. Other ideaSolar sails to block the Sun light , CO2 will cool to liquid and or solid. Once it drops to the surface it would absorb the heat from the Venus surface, boil and head up to high altitude to be cool again by radiating the heat to space. Cycle continues till surface is about the some temperature as the CO2. Pressure should be low enough on the high hills to land machines to convert the solid and or liquid CO2. Plant life could start in green houses.
Quote from: RocketmanUS on 03/05/2012 06:04 pmUse the solar sails to reflect more Sun light on Venus to heat it up more to were some of the molecules will reach escape velocity ( concentrate the light on one area ). Once some of the atmosphere is removed the cool it by blocking the Sun with the solar sails. Other ideaSolar sails to block the Sun light , CO2 will cool to liquid and or solid. Once it drops to the surface it would absorb the heat from the Venus surface, boil and head up to high altitude to be cool again by radiating the heat to space. Cycle continues till surface is about the some temperature as the CO2. Pressure should be low enough on the high hills to land machines to convert the solid and or liquid CO2. Plant life could start in green houses.I had been thinking in terms of the introduced water cycling through the crust and atmosphere accelerating the cooling of the crust, but you make a very good point about the CO2 performing that function during the cooling phase .