# Terraforming Another Planet - Possible? When? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-another-planet-possible-when/788117 "2017-06-04T16:50:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-another-planet-possible-when/788117/101 "2017-06-11T21:52:38Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > I am not 100% positive, but you maybe could probably roam some of the northern plains below the ice shelf, those alts might give you pressures right now that you could survive in with a supply of bottled air. The top of Mt Everest has an atmospheric pressure of 1/3 sea level, 4.9 psi vs 14.7 psi. Mars has an atmosphere 0.6% of Earth’s or 0.09 psi. There’s no way you’re going to survive even double that without a pressure suit, even with bottled oxygen. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-another-planet-possible-when/788117/102 "2017-06-11T23:14:17Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > The top of Mt Everest has an atmospheric pressure of 1/3 sea level, 4.9 psi vs 14.7 psi. Mars has an atmosphere 0.6% of Earth’s or 0.09 psi. There’s no way you’re going to survive even double that without a pressure suit, even with bottled oxygen. Yea i think im wrong there, i thought you could not boil over to around 30km here, but looks like that is less at 18km. And mars pressure wise is in the 30km equiv. So, no walking about ☹ except like [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_activity_suit#/media/File:Space_activity_suit.jpg) Back to the habitat. ---
**Author:** ![ssgenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@ssgenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ssgenius)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-another-planet-possible-when/788117/103 "2017-06-11T23:33:09Z")
All this discussion on Mars and and Titan when there is a nearby Earth clone that is being overlooked Hypothetical question Suppose Venus could be pushed into Earth’s orbit (Yes, I know that is not realistic) Could its atmosphere be modified so that it could be possible to live in ? What I am getting at it is that it is of a similar size and gravity to the Earth. By putting it in an orbit (and conditions) similar to Earth, could this even be feasible? Thanks for any answers ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-another-planet-possible-when/788117/104 "2017-06-12T00:58:54Z")
Venus has an equatorial rotational velocity of about 6.5 km per Your, meaning that it rotates once every 243 days. Setting aside the problems with its atmosphere and lack of magnetic field, it would not be possible to create a terrestrial environment without imparting sufficient rotational speed. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![ssgenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@ssgenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ssgenius)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-another-planet-possible-when/788117/105 "2017-06-12T01:50:07Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Venus has an equatorial rotational velocity of about 6.5 km per > Your, meaning that it rotates once every 243 days. Setting aside the problems with its atmosphere and lack of magnetic field, it would not be possible to create a terrestrial environment without imparting sufficient rotational speed. > > Stranger Thanks, Great points Aside from a long day, what would be the problems of the slow rotational period? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-another-planet-possible-when/788117/106 "2017-06-12T01:58:58Z")
I wonder whether “fixing” Venus would require moving the orbit or whether we could simply remove enough atmosphere (or unhelpful constituents thereof) to solve the greenhouse problem and get the temp and pressures down to human-compatible levels. A bit of googling suggests not. The average surface temp of a no-atmosphere Earth is (very) roughly 0F. Venus has about 2x the solar irradiance of Earth 2.6kw vs 1.3kW/m[sup]2[/sup]. Venus gonna be hot no matter what kind of atmosphere you put over it. Even none. As **Stranger** says, “fixing” the slow rotation is job 1 for delivering any kind of livable climate. The more we talk about all this terraforming stuff, the more it’s obvious that a giant ball of rock is a really stupid thing to try to live on. All that useless bulk just to make some gravity. There’s gotta be an easier way to make some gravity. Then we can concentrate on the part that matters, the biosphere. That thin film sticking, more or less, to the surface of our big dumb gravity generator. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-another-planet-possible-when/788117/107 "2017-06-12T02:58:14Z")
> [@ssgenius](#): > > Aside from a long day, what would be the problems of the slow rotational period? The sunward side of the planet is going to get very hot while the back side will be frigidly cold. This would have a dramatic effect on climate (perpetual wind, annual deep freezing, sterilizing hot summers). It would not be habitable or arable on the surface regardless of what atmosphere you managed to wrap it in. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-another-planet-possible-when/788117/108 "2017-06-12T03:02:55Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The more we talk about all this terraforming stuff, the more it’s obvious that a giant ball of rock is a really stupid thing to try to live on. All that useless bulk just to make some gravity. There’s gotta be an easier way to make some gravity. Then we can concentrate on the part that matters, the biosphere. That thin film sticking, more or less, to the surface of our big dumb gravity generator. You could make a bunch of hollow rings, affix them to a big central axis, and then just spin it. All docking functions etc could be done via the central axis where you could simply counter rotate the docking assembly as needed? (so we arent trying to spin a shuttle to match ala Interstellar) It seems a simple way, i’m sure there is a reason it is not ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-another-planet-possible-when/788117/110 "2017-06-12T08:43:20Z")
You need scrith for that. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-another-planet-possible-when/788117/111 "2017-06-12T09:16:30Z")
Yes, there are ways to terraform Venus, but it would take a huge effort and a very long time. 1/ Build a sunshade at the Venus/Sun L1 point. This will cool the planet controllably. 2/ Illuminate the planet with a swarm of orbiting mirrors to replicate a day/night cycle. 3/Import hydrogen/. This is optional - Venus already has enough hydrogen to make a pond 1 metre deep all over the surface. But this is tiny compared to Earth’s water reservoir so we would probably need more. The hydrogen can be combined with local oxygen to create seas. 4/ Wait for thousands of years while the carbon in the atmosphere is incorporated into the crust, or remove it for export. Carbon is likely to become the construction material of choice for many purposes, in its various allotropes graphene, diamond, and carbon nanotube, among others. There are lots of ways to finagle the result to make it a little faster and or hospitable but the rough outline is there. Don’t expect a comfortable planet for thousands of years; it will never be naturally self-maintaining, like the Earth is. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-another-planet-possible-when/788117/112 "2017-06-12T17:59:23Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > You need scrith for that. Uh? i was thinking more like carbon, fibre or maybe nanotubes? I dont think scrith exists on earth or anyplace close by? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-another-planet-possible-when/788117.md?page=5)