The standard model of how we would terraform Venus is to dump algae into the upper atmosphere, along with comets to gradually cool the atmosphere down and make it breathable. However, a recent piece in Discover magazine got me thinking.
The folks at Dyn-O-Mat claim to have developed a polymer powder that can absorb a cloud and cause it to fall harmlessly to earth. Now, assuming that a polymer could be developed that wouldn’t dissovle when it came into contact with Venus’s sulphuric atmosphere and that we had a relatively inexpensive method of getting the necessary tons of the stuff to Venus and dumped it into the atmosphere, would that help to accelerate the terraforming process?
Admittedly, we’d still need to introduce algae to provide a breathable atmosphere, but what effect would the polymer have on Venus’s temperature if it did clear the clouds out of a vast expansion of Venus’s sky? Would it drop the temperature rapidly, or would it slowly decrease by just a few degrees per Earth day?
I’m no expert, but I’d think that the temperature would at first drop rapidly and then stabilize to a level that was still significantly higher than that found on earth. Scientists have measured that more energy is being emitted from Venus than the amount absorbed, so a significant amount of energy is being generated by the planet, enough to penetrate the atmosphere. The surface is also composed of vast amounts of volcanoes with widespread lava flows covering over 85% of the surface, which probably contribute at least a bit to the high surface temp (not sure if it’s a lot or a little). Venus is also closer to the sun than Earth of course. All of these things add to the heat on Venus and would not be stopped by the removal of clouds, however the “runaway” “greenhouse” (a misnomer btw) effect that has resulted in the 900F surface temp would likely be greatly hindered.
I did a project on Venus a while ago if you want to know how I got my info.
That dump “algae in the sky” was from Carl Sagan circa 1961 before folks really had a handle on just what was truly what there. Here is a “real” book on terraforming, and a “soundbite” from it about the algae stuff. http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~mfogg/book.htm
The real problem is bringing tempratures down & I think most of the thinking now is some kind of shield to keep the sun off until the atmosphere freezes. THEN start trying terraforming.
OR bombard the planet with something, probably asteroids, and “abating” the atmosphere off.
THEN you can start trying to get the chemicals and (remaining) atmoshere into earthlike conditions
Interesting link, jimmmy, I’ll definately have to pick that book up. All of this is, of course, just idle speculation, on everyone’s part, as until we actually attempt to terraform, we won’t know for certain how long it’ll take, or what we need to do.
Frederick Pohl wrote about terraforming Venus in his sequel to the classic The Space Merchants, The Merchant’s War. In TMW, he suggests using Ranque-Hilsch tubes (the closest thing you’ll find to Maxwell’s Demon in the real world – see The Flying Circus of Physics) to cool down the planet.