Terraforming Venus. Modern conditions on Venus. Is there life on Venus

Venus is the planet of the solar system (the second after Mercury, then the Earth), named after the Roman goddess of beauty and love. It is one of the brightest space objects along with the Earth and the Moon. This planet, of course, did not go unnoticed by scientists who at one time thought about the questions: is life possible on Venus? This topic is of interest to many astronomy lovers. So what are the conditions for survival on Venus?

Brief information about Venus

There probably is no such person who does not know what Venus is. This planet is the sixth largest among all other planets. The distance to Venus from the Sun is more than 108 million kilometers. In its air, mainly gases are concentrated: carbon dioxide and nitrogen, while the Earth has the most oxygen, which allows living organisms to exist. Also on Venus, clouds are composed of sulfuric acid (namely, sulfur dioxide), which does not allow the surface to be seen by the ordinary human eye, that is, it becomes invisible. The average temperature on Venus is much higher than on Earth: 460 degrees Celsius, while on Earth it is only 14 degrees Celsius. That is, Venus can compete and even go around in temperature the hottest desert of our planet. It should be noted that the dense air shell of Venus creates a strong greenhouse effect, which is the reason for the temperature increase due to the thermal energy generated as a result of heating of the gases.

The first attempts to develop Venus

Soviet scientists, evaluating the advantages of the planet Venus over other cosmic bodies (for example, Mars, which the US astronomers were seriously interested in), decided to take up its development. Already in February 1961, the Venus program was created, according to which it was planned to send spacecraft to the planet in order to examine the entire surface. The program has existed for twenty long years.

First flight

For the first time, the atmosphere of Venus in 1761 was discovered by the famous Russian naturalist Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov. As mentioned earlier, Soviet scientists became interested in this mysterious planet in 1961. They made many attempts (namely, about 10) to send spacecraft there in order to find out the conditions for life. They explored both the surface of the planet and its surroundings. However, scientists were not able to find out reliable facts about temperature and pressure on Venus. What flights to Venus were carried out?

The Soviet scientists launched the first automatic interplanetary station to the planet on February 8, 1961, but failed to achieve the goal: the acceleration block did not turn on. The second attempt to launch a spaceship called "Venus-1" was a great success, and on February 12, 1961, he headed for Venus. After spending more than 3 months in space, the interplanetary station lost contact with the hot planet on February 17. According to scientists, it flew from Venus one hundred thousand kilometers on May 19. Launches of ships on Venus did not stop there. On August 8, 1962, the Mariner-2 spacecraft launched by NASA set off into space. On December 14 of that year, he successfully circled the entire planet. It took 110 days from the launch of the ship. Finally, a spaceship called the Venus Express (ESA Venus Express) was launched on November 9, 2005. It took him 153 days to reach the planet. This was the last flight to Venus.

In addition to the USSR, the United States, Japan, and the European Space Agency also studied Venus .

How much to fly to Venus

The distance to Venus, counting from the Earth, is from 38 to 261 million kilometers. The time taken to fly depends on the speed of the spacecraft and the trajectory along which it moves. Consequently, no one can give an exact answer to the question of how much to fly to Venus. As mentioned earlier, several spacecraft were launched to the planet, and each of them took a different amount of time to reach the surface of Venus (Mariner-2 - 110 days, Venus Express - 153 days).

Terraforming Venus

This change in climate, environmental conditions of the planet (temperature, air composition) is enough to turn it into a place suitable for living organisms.

For the first time, Soviet scientists became seriously interested in terraforming this hot planet. They developed many ideas and made several attempts to study Venus, both its surface and its surroundings. Working for 20 years, scientists have learned many facts about this planet (for example, what Venus really is and what are the conditions on it) that have destroyed all their plans for the possibility of people developing this planet. No attempts are being made now. It is not known whether the opportunity will be provided in the future of the terraforming of Venus in 200-300 years.

Ways

Below are the methods of how to terraform Venus:

1. Reducing the Venusian day (117 Earth days) by bombarding the planet with asteroids, which, moreover, fill Venus with water. For this, according to futurologists, it is possible to use water-ammonia asteroids from the Kuiper belt (comets can also be useful).
2. By synthesizing water from atmospheric and carbon dioxide, it is also possible to solve the problem of Venusian drought and provide the planet with water resources.
3. An ice block 600 km in diameter should fall on Venus to spin the planet and artificially irrigate it with water.
4. Water bombardment can dilute the dangerous sulfur clouds surrounding the entire planet. Such an installation will turn the acid into salt, while also emitting hydrogen. However, solving one problem entails another. Raised dust clouds will surely trigger a nuclear winter on Venus. Therefore, you need to be prepared for everything.
5. Since the temperature on the surface of the planet is 4-5 times higher than the boiling point of water, Venus must first be cooled. This can be achieved by placing colossal screens between the sun and Venus at the Lagrange point (between two massive bodies), on which an object with a small mass can be, without experiencing any influence of these bodies, except gravitational. But this balance is very unstable, so the layout of the screens must be constantly changed.
6. You can lower the temperature of the planet by turning part of the atmosphere into dry ice - solid carbon dioxide.
7. Populating algae (chlorella, cyanobacteria) on the planet, which absorb carbon dioxide, produce oxygen and reduce the greenhouse effect, can also help cool Venus and lower atmospheric pressure. This was interested in the American scientist Carl Sagan.

Why think about it

Terraforming Venus is attractive as follows:

1. Venus is not far from the Earth, although it is closer to the sun.
2. Venus has characteristics close to earthly (mass, diameter, acceleration of gravity), therefore it is also called the twin sister of the Earth.
3. Solar energy on a hot planet is also a positive benefit for its terraforming, because it can improve the development of energy.
4. It is believed that Venus has a lot of solids, such as uranium, which are useful resources.

Modern conditions on the planet

1. The temperature of Venus is 460 degrees Celsius, which makes it the hottest planet in the solar system.
2. The surface pressure is 93 atmospheres.
3. The gas composition of the planet: 96% - carbon dioxide, the remaining 4% - nitrogen, carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO ₂ ), oxygen and water vapor.

Why is it difficult for modern man to survive on Venus

Despite possible attempts to create on Venus the necessary conditions for the living organisms to live, people can hardly live there. There are several reasons for this:

1. Very high surface temperature of Venus (about +460 degrees Celsius). Accustomed to the temperature of the Earth (+14 degrees), a person simply burns.
2. The pressure on Venus is about 93 atmospheres, while on Earth, atmospheric pressure at sea level is usually taken for only 1 atmosphere (or, as meteorologists say, 760 mm Hg).
3. On Venus, man will have nothing to breathe. Unlike Earth, saturated with oxygen, Venus is rich in carbon dioxide and nitrogen, which the human lung can not do.
4. On a hot planet, there is practically no water necessary for the human body. However, it can be delivered there artificially.
5. Venus rotates in the opposite direction compared to Earth, so day and night are not 24 familiar hours, but 58.5 Earth days, which is very inconvenient.
6. Since Venus is much closer to the Sun than the Earth, the level of radiation is also increased. And as you know, it can cause cancer and other dangerous deadly diseases in humans.

What should Venus be after terraforming

A planet suitable for living organisms should have a warm climate with normal humidity. Also, it should have an average temperature approximately two times higher than the average temperature of the Earth, that is, about 26 degrees Celsius. The change of day and night coincides with the earth: 24 hours - 1 day. Water-ammonia comets and asteroids should supply the planet with water. It is planned to use nanorobots that convert carbon dioxide and other toxic substances and replace them with oxygen, which is more necessary for the breathing of living organisms.

Venusian Cloud Settlement

The Venus Terraforming Plan did not achieve the expected results and was canceled. However, scientists “lit up” with another idea: is it possible to master the clouds of Venus, if living organisms can’t survive on its surface? Clouds, about 10 kilometers thick, are located at an altitude of 60 kilometers from the surface of the planet. Scientists launched the Venera-4 apparatus, which found that the temperature on the cloud layer is -25 degrees Celsius, which is quite acceptable for the human body: you can at least dress warmer, while the temperature is more than 400 degrees will not save anything. Moreover, on the clouds of Venus, the pressure is approximately the same as on Earth, and ice crystals may well serve as sources of water. Only here, to obtain oxygen, you need a special mask with a block of chemical supply of the body with gas for breathing. True, there is no solid surface on the Venusian cloud layer, which can cause minor inconvenience. It was even planned to create drifting station-airships for the first settlers on Venus. In one of the magazines even posted an approximate photo of such a device. It was presented in the form of a huge platform with a spherical transparent multilayer shell.

Unfortunately, this idea has not found its application. The reason for this was the following: scientists sent to Venus a couple of spacecraft that discovered a large number of electric discharges in the cloud layer of the planet - more than a thousand lightning pierced the atmosphere at a time when Venus-12 made landing attempts. After a certain amount of time, another reason was discovered for the impossibility of developing the Venusian clouds: very strong winds that could instantly destroy a drifting airship. After that, several more stations were sent, thanks to which scientists were able to get more information about Venus. These data convinced them that the development of a hot planet is beyond the reach of people. As a result, the attempts at terraforming were stopped, so the possibility of life on Venus was rejected.