# Terraforming Venus
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-venus/56412
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 1, 2001, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-venus/56412 "2001-03-01T19:45:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2001, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-venus/56412/21 "2001-03-02T08:38:06Z")
I thought the whole idea that an oversized moon can greatly reduce the atmosphere of a planet (thus the differences between Earth and Venus) was discounted in the 70s.
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### Author:  [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2001, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-venus/56412/22 "2001-03-02T16:22:47Z")
How about self replicating nanobots and a tractor beam? Just turn the molecules into what you want them to be and tow the planet to a better orbit. Easy 😉
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2001, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-venus/56412/23 "2001-03-02T16:44:12Z")
Hey, we’re all overlooking the greater issue, here… what if the Venusians don’t _want_ us to terraform their planet?
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2001, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-venus/56412/24 "2001-03-02T17:43:28Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Badtz Maru \*
> I thought the whole idea that an oversized moon can greatly reduce the atmosphere of a planet (thus the differences between Earth and Venus) was discounted in the 70s.
It was. Virtually no one would even remember that hypothesis if it hadn’t been incorporated in a Larry Niven story.
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2001, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-venus/56412/25 "2001-03-02T22:11:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Just making a large square or circle of aluminized mylar as big as the planet would probably not work. It’d be unstable and would fold and bend
Just spin it like a CD and it won’t fold. To move the planet you can use a large astroid and alter it’s course so it orbits venus and jupiter, eash pass will pull venus further out, but earth’s orbit will be difficult to cross due to the gravity of earth and chance of collision, then mars
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2001, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-venus/56412/26 "2001-03-02T22:33:33Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by fiddlesticks \*
> \*\*One very interesting theory that I read was that because Venus has no volcanos or plate tectonics, heat & pressure build up beneath the crust over a long period of time. That is until a critical point is reached and the entire crust melts from the inside out, completely resurfacing the planet and erasing the craters on a semi-regular basis.
> \*\*
Well, so we’ve all come to the conclusion that we need to find some way to make Venus more geologically active. Any ideas how to do that? Assuming we can solve the atmosphere problem, how do we make volcanoes? Would just sinking shafts into the core do it, or would it take more work. Also, would there be some way to create plates, or seperate the crust somehow?
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2001, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-venus/56412/27 "2001-03-02T22:59:46Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by k2dave \*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > Just making a large square or circle of aluminized mylar as big as the planet would probably not work. It’d be unstable and would fold and bend
>
> Just spin it like a CD and it won’t fold.
We’re talking about a screen that’s 1 mm thick (or less) and 12,000 Km across. We’ve never made anything near that size and even if it were spinning, we don’t know how it would behave. Most likely, it’s impossible to make something like that. Besides, it wouldn’t go with my joke.
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2001, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-venus/56412/28 "2001-03-03T17:06:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ethilrist \*
> \*\*Hey, we’re all overlooking the greater issue, here… what if the Venusians don’t _want_ us to terraform their planet? \*\*
[white imperialist voice]
But they’re not doing anything with it. It’s just sitting there. They’re too primitive to understand. Give them some iron kettles and beads, maybe a few CD players and Coca-Cola t-shirts, they’ll come around.
Let their headman have the liquor license, that’ll do it.
[/white imperialist voice]
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### Author:  [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2001, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-venus/56412/29 "2001-03-03T18:30:03Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ethilrist \*
> \*\*Hey, we’re all overlooking the greater issue, here… what if the Venusians don’t _want_ us to terraform their planet? \*\*
Worse yet, what do we do when the Venusians decide to Veniform Earth?
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2001, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-venus/56412/30 "2001-03-03T19:50:28Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \*
> Let their headman have the liquor license, that’ll do it.
And before you know it, there’ll be Venusian casinos everywhere…
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by wevets_
> Worse yet, what do we do when the Venusians decide to Veniform Earth?
Aren’t we doing a pretty good job of that ourselves?
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