Are We Accidentially Terraforming Venus?

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Maybe they could have it back if they returned the money we paid for it. That was $7,200,000 in 1867, around two cents an acre. Adjusted for inflation [source: https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflat ... nt=7200000 ] this would be $126,446,594.59 in 2020 US currency. Still quite a bargain!

Perhaps Russia would be willing to sell Venus to us for the same rate? [$0.02 an acre] Microsoft Bing suggests that Venus is 177.70 million sq miles, the same source calculated that as being 113,728,000,000 acres. If Russia sold Venus at the same rate, they could conceivably get $5,686,400,000,000 for it, which somehow seems less of a bargain. Alaska is volcanic, remote, and oft inhospitable... but the air and water in Alaska is better than the air and water where I live.



I quite agree, if Russia wishes to stake their claim, they must have their iron man there to make sure it's running as smoothly as a Russian "Rolex".



First one, then the other. I can't imagine anything that reaches the surface ever taking off again....



That's something I long considered as a child. Fascinating that they even have atmospheric weather [the Great Red Spot] similar to Earth tropical cyclones, yet no known surface ground or oceans.

Thats correct. The gas giants are much bigger than the rocky planets, but much less dense. Basically balls of gas -built more like the Sun, and the other stars, than like Venus, Mars, Mercury, or Earth. But even a ball of gas,if it's planet sized is going to have huge pressure at its core that will force fluids to become solid.

Earth is often described as a failed Venus. It's tragic, really- that planet, so similar in size, composition and orbit to Venus, was just slightly too far fom the Sun. The atmosphere failed to build up enough carbon dioxide, leaving the chilly surface partly covered with a primitive layer of oxygen dihydride, some of it even frozen. A scum of exotic cold organic chemistry contaminates the thin atmosphere with toxic molecular oxygen. Although there have recently been signs that Earth is feebly trying to complete its evolution into a Venus-like world.

An article in last week's "New Scientist" about possible upcoming Venus missions was titled: "We're Heading For Venus." Any readers who remember the '80s now have that synth brass riff from "The Final Countdown" stuck in their heads.

Also- there is a Japanese probe, Akatsuki, orbiting Venus right now. But it doesn't have the ability to spot phosphine. It has a whole bunch of cameras, but they all seem to be hyper-specialised for other tasks.

Not sure where I got "90 minutes" from- the Venera 13 lander holds the record, transmitting from the surface for 2 hours and 7 minutes.

This article about NASA's Venus Rover Challenge might be of interest. The designs sound delightfully steampunk: senors "....using pendulums, cams, rollers, levers, springs and flexible shafts, with no fragile hydraulics or electronic sensors in sight."

https://www.engadget.com/nasa-venus-rov ... VEKiUw4ZeB

A new study on a decade of ultraviolet observations of Venus from 2006 to 2017, showed that the planet's reflection of ultraviolet light decreased by half before shooting back up again, researchers said.This change resulted in large variations in the amount of solar energy absorbed by Venus' clouds and the circulation in its atmosphere, causing the changes in the planet's climate, they added.

Researchers combined observations from Europe's Venus Express mission, Japan's Akatsuki Venus orbiter, NASA's Messenger spacecraft (which flew by Venus on the way to Mercury) and the Hubble Space Telescope for the study. The weather on Venus, like that of the Earth, is affected by solar radiation and the changes in the reflection of its surrounding clouds. But unlike Earth, Venus' clouds are made up of sulfuric acid and contain dark patches that scientists have referred to as "unknown absorbers" as they absorb most of the heat and ultraviolet light emitted by the sun. The new study suggests that these absorbers may be what is causing these changes in Venus' climate.

Source: Venus Has Wild Climate Shifts and the Secret May Be In Its Clouds

So the main question of interest:
Is there a relationship between the dark patches in the atmosphere and phosphine molecules (potential life).