From: Michael Wiik (mwiik@messagenet.com)
Date: Fri Aug 20 1999 - 08:18:32 MDT
Gregory Hather writes...
> Why mars won't be teraformed for a long time...
>
I had an idea years ago on how we could save money by terraforming two
planets at once. Venus has too much atmosphere, Mars too little, can we
transfer some?
I envisioned mass drivers on Mars launching reusable robot probes
towards Venus. When one gets there, it sticks a tube into the
atmosphere, and draws some of it up into itself, inflating a large
balloon. Somehow breaking away from Venus's orbit, the probe with
inflated balloon acts like a solar sail pushing the ship on a leisurely
journey back towards Mars. Algae is introduced into the balloon to
convert at least some carbon dioxide into oxygen along the way. Once in
Mars orbit, the probe is slowed and the whole thing crashes down, with
the balloon burning up and the probe parachuting down to be re-loaded
with a fresh balloon and put back into the mass driver for another trip.
Would this work?
Thanks,
-Mike
-- ====================================================================== Michael Wiik Principal Messagenet Communications Research Washington DC Area Internet and WWW Consultants http://messagenet.com mwiik@messagenet.com ======================================================================
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