Do you think a human colony could live on Venus?

Question

I have to do this thing for my astronomy class where we are in groups and we drew either a moon or a planet out of a hat. My group got Venus. I'm not asking you to do my homework or anything. I'm just asking your opinion. Do you think human life could be supported on Venus? It is the 2nd closest planet to the sun, and therefore very very hot. Although sometimes it is called Earth's "sister planet"?

Sorry. Forgot to say that we have to come up with a way for a colony of people to live there. Although you probably already inferred that.

Answer 1

Of course we can't survive there as naked apes but we aren't naked apes anymore. It all depends on what technology is available. With the proper technology - sure why not?

My advice is to research the temperature ranges, climactic conditions, geographical features and atmospheric gases and then make up technology to deal with those issues. It could be really fun if you use your imagination.

Answer 2

Venus would be the last place to choose. First off, the atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, with clouds composed primarily of sulfuric acid, which rains down upon the surface. Second, surface temperatures would be way too hot, which is actually hotter than daytime temperatures on Mercury, which is the closest planet to the sun! Why is Venus hotter? Greenhouse effect, which means that rays from the sun hit the surface but do not radiate back into space because of the thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas, and thick, constant cloud cover.
Third, because of the dense CO2 atmosphere, the pressure would be too great for anything to last on the surface, let alone survive. Russian (I think) probes that have landed on the surface have only lasted a few minutes before being crushed by the atmospheric pressure.
Venus is only called "Earth's sister planet" because of similarities in size. The similarities end there.
Another tidbit: when viewed through a telescope, "phases" are revealed, similar to the phases seen on the moon. Sunlight is reflected from the planet-wide cloud cover, which is extremely dense, and surface details are never revealed.

Answer 3

The surface temperature is hot enough to melt lead, the clouds are acid, the atmosphere is mostly CO2 and poisonous, and the surface pressure is as crushing as what you would expect to find at the bottom of Earth's deepest oceans. And it seems to have little water.

Probes sent to the surface have lasted only a few minutes to an hour before frying out. It would take technology that we haven't invented yet to enable us to live there.

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For help with your project, it has been suggested that seeding the upper atmosphere with algae will consume enought CO2 (as the single cell algae grow) to reverse the greenhouse effect and allow Venus to cool. But algae normally do not live in the clouds on Earth, so they might not survive there on Venus, either. Capturing comets might supply water, but some way would have to be found to eliminate the acid from the atmosphere.

Answer 4

Okay...
This is all theoretical and such...

To live there you would need a capsule big enough for say ten people to comfortably live inside for 50 years. Suitable equipment would be installed in this capsule for the manufacture of a useable atmosphere, water, and the growth of a wide variety of vegetable foods. Also, one section of the capsule would deal with the collection and reprocessing/reclamation of waste materials so that the colony did not poison itself to death with its own wastes. Small rovers would be attached to the under side of the capsule to move about on the surface of the planet and collect various minerals for raw material useage in creating new devices and products needed within and around the capsule.

The upper surface of the capsule would of course be festooned with all manner of antennas and dishes to carry out communication schedules with transport space ships and Earth's home base installation.

The electric power to service the capsule would be arranged to operate from two sources. The first source to be placed in usage would be a nuclear power system and later it would be supported by a specialized solar array which made use of temperature compensated, steerable, solar panels which always looked at the visable Sun.

It would never be possible to drag everything ten folks might need for a 50 year existance all the way to Venus, so the work function and productivity of the roving mobile miner units will be directly linked to the surviveability of the colony as a whole. The miner units must be kept operational and working continuously. This suggests that a special section of the capsule be devoted to retrieving, deploying, garaging and repairing the rover units.

Regards,
Zah

Answer 5

Venus has an average temperature around 900 F, and the atmosphere is loaded with sulfuric acid. Not suitable for colonization until extensive terraforming is done. It has been postulated that it could be terraformed by seeding the upper clouds with bacteria that would feed on the CO2, fart oxygen and work it's way down to the surface over hundreds of years. The oxygen would combine with the hydrogen from the sulfuric acid and produce water. This will all take centuries, so don't hold your breath.

Answer 6

Venus's surface is over 800 degrees F, the air pressure is many times greater than that of earth, it's atmosphere is made of carbon dioxide and sulfur, and it rains sulfuric acid. It would be very difficult for humans to colonize it. First we would have to find materials that could withstand those conditions, then we would have to figure out how to get the materials there to build a base that could support an artificial ecosystem, which we would also have to invent.

Answer 7

I think we could. Pehaps we could set up giant balloons in the high atmosphere, above the worst of the heat. We could use a modified geothermal system (aerothermal?) for power, and send robots to mine the tallest and presumably coolest peaks. At the same time, we could look into terrforming. I once saw a sci fi show where we released genetically modified algae into the upper atmosphere, and other ideas. No doubt impractical or impossible, but a neat thought.

Answer 8

Sounds like you got the bad planet.

There is really so little to offer on Venus they would rather stay in space than live on it.

The air is so thick it approaches the consistancy of liquid.
It's 850 degrees, dark, and it rains acid.

Imagine living deep under the ocean in fire. You'd need to enclose your body in an air-conditioned tank just to not even get crushed on it.

Answer 9

No the atmosphere of Venus is poisenous and Venus is too hot for humans to survive there

Answer 10

Yes
we can
do u remember we were noting zillion of years ago
but now ruling the earth and can rule more