[extropy-chat] Nuclear terraforming

[Henrique Moraes Machado (oplnk)]

Hence the idea of  hitting the planet with a large meteorite to create a 
kind of "nuclear" winter, without the nuclear part.
Could this be done with the nuclear warheads we have today (I mean alter the 
meteorite's orbit so it strikes Venus)?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Adrian Tymes" <wingcat at pacbell.net>
To: "ExI chat list" <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2005 4:38 PM
Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] Nuclear terraforming


> The suggestion was made in part as a productive use of existing
> nuclear weapons.  Although, perhaps nuclear warheads could be
> reprocessed into fuel for reactors (the reverse of reprocessing
> nuclear fuel into warheads - and easier, because you're diluting
> the material instead of concentrating it).
>
> As to Mike's idea of sunshade and oscillators - the problem is
> that constructing things that large wouldn't be as quick as
> simply launching a rocket with existing warheads to Venus.
> Although, even the combined power of every nuclear weapon
> currently on Earth probably wouldn't be enough to significantly
> alter Venus's spin anyway.  (Or would it?)
>
> There's also the problem of making the radiator fins out of
> something that can transfer heat well but also stand up to
> sulfuric acid and intense weather.  Glass is the usual container
> for sulfuric acid in labs, but glass is often not the strongest
> structural material.  (And if you just have a glass coating, the
> weather could crack it, letting the acid at what's underneath.)
> Remember also that a lightweight substance would make the whole
> mission easier to perform - easier to ship to Venus.
>
> There's also the problem of radiating heat in space: vacuum makes
> a good insulator.
>
> A Venus-diameter sunshade at the Venus-Sun L1 point would
> probably be easier to build - and therefore faster to get into
> place.  I wonder if this faster-ness would offset the slower
> speed of removing Venus's heat.  If the Sun were completely
> blocked off, how long would it take Venus to radiate enough heat
> that the atmospheric temperature would drop to something near
> Earth normal?  (Overlooking, for now, the problems of Venus's
> geology and atmospheric composition and pressure, some of which
> problems look like they might go away by themselves if the
> temperature were reduced.)
>
> --- "Henrique Moraes Machado (oplnk)" <hemm at openlink.com.br> wrote:
>
>>
>> Since we're on this wondering thing, I'd suggest using the nuclear
>> power to
>> redirect a big rock to hit Venus. So there would be no radiation to
>> clean.
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Joseph Bloch" <transhumanist at goldenfuture.net>
>> To: "ExI chat list" <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
>> Sent: Friday, December 16, 2005 1:02 AM
>> Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] Nuclear terraforming
>>
>>
>> > I'm pretty sure that wouldn't work.
>> > The different between nuclear winter and greenhouse effect is a
>> fine line,
>> > and has to do with albedo and suchlike. You'd probably do much
>> better
>> > cooling Venus with a scheme to get rid of the cloud cover, so more
>> heat
>> > was radiated into space, rather than being reflected back to the
>> surface.
>> > Such is my layman's understanding...
>> > Joseph
>>
>> > Adrian Tymes wrote:
>> >>But speaking of applying nuclear weapons to vast surfaces...I
>> >>wonder - has anyone looked into the feasability of, say,
>> >>initiating nuclear winter on Venus so as to rapidly chill the
>> >>planet, so that much of the sulfuric acid comes out of the
>> >>atmosphere (which might then allow establishment of more
>> >>permanent temperature-control mechanisms, infeasable to deploy
>> >>right now mainly because of the immense temperature, pressure,
>> >>and acid rains at Venus's surface)?  Most of the radioactive
>> >>fallout could probably be localized, and even if the atmosphere
>> >>were magically converted to Earth-temperature oxygen-nitrogen
>> >>overnight, the soil will probably need cleaning before people can
>> >>live there as it is anyway (again, due to the sulfuric acid
>> >>rains).