Chapter 1: Introduction

• Leaving Earth to find new homes in space is an old dream of humanity

• Mars is often considered as a potential colony, but what if we think bigger?

• What if we turn Venus, one of the most hostile and deadly places in the solar system, into a colony?

• Venus has extreme conditions, but it might be easier than you think

Extreme Conditions on Venus

• Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system with a surface temperature of 460 degrees Celsius

• Venus has the most extreme greenhouse effect in the solar system

• CO2 is the main component of Venus's atmosphere, making up 97% of it

• Venus's atmosphere is 90 times denser than Earth's atmosphere

• Standing on Venus's surface would feel like being 900 meters deep in the ocean

• The pressure on Venus's surface is so high that it would kill you instantly

Why Bother with Venus?

• Venus is a truly horrible place, so why should we even bother?

Chapter 2: A Proper Terraformed Venus

• Venus is almost as big as Earth and has 90 percent of its surface gravity

  • Surface gravity is a big problem when colonizing the solar system

  • Long days in low gravity places can have negative health effects

• Venus's size means it could be the 2nd largest habitat in the solar system

  • A new home for 1,000,000,000 of humans and trillions of animals

  • It could have oceans, lush forests, and a beautiful blue sky

• A proper terraformed Venus may be the most pleasant place to live outside of Earth

  • Terraforming is not possible currently, but a future version of us could take on the project

Cooling Down Venus and Removing the Atmosphere

• Before anything else, we need to cool Venus down and remove the gas that makes up the extremely heavy atmosphere

  • The atmosphere of Venus weighs around 465,000,000,000 tons

• Options for removing the atmosphere:

  • Create giant solar collectors powering a huge array of laser beams to heat up the atmosphere and blast it into space

    • Requires thousands of times the entire power generating capacity of humanity

    • Would still take thousands of years to remove the atmosphere

  • Sequester the atmosphere by binding the CO2 in different compounds through chemical reactions

Chapter 3: Free The Atmosphere

• Mining elements on Mercury and shooting them at Venus

  • Use of mass driver systems and electric rails

  • Elements like calcium or magnesium would bind CO2 into carbonates

  • Impractical due to the large amount of material needed

  • Sequestering CO2 this way may take too long

• Constructing a huge mirror to block out the sun

  • Mirror doesn't need to be complex or massive

  • Thin foil with structural support

  • Multiple pieces forming an annular stack of angled mirrors

  • Reflecting sunlight from one set of mirrors to the next

  • Redirecting light to the back to balance the force and hold them in position

• Infrastructure in place and gradual cooling of the atmosphere

  • Atmosphere slowly cools down over the first few decades

  • Atmosphere remains dense and deadly

  • After around 60 years, the critical temperature of 31 degrees Celsius is reached

  • CO2 turns to liquid and begins to rain down

  • Constant global rainstorm lasting 30 years

Chapter 4: Over Venus's Surface

• The pressure and temperature drop simultaneously

  • Puddles turn into lakes and oceans

  • Surface temperature is now -56 degrees Celsius

  • Pressure drops to 7 times the pressure on Earth

• CO2 oceans freeze and rain turns into snow

  • Leaves Venus with frozen oceans and CO2 glaciers

• Remaining atmosphere mostly nitrogen at 3 times Earth's surface pressure

• Challenges of walking on Venus's surface

  • Freezing temperature

  • Suffocation due to lack of oxygen

Keeping the CO2 from Melting

• Need to prevent CO2 ice from melting and filling up the atmosphere

• Possible solutions

  • Covering the CO2 ice with cheap plastic insulation and Venus rock or water oceans

  • Concerns of building a planet with a potential time bomb

    • Volcanic activity could melt CO2 and ruin everything

  • Shooting the CO2 out into space and collecting it in a small moon for storage and future use

    • Efficiency can be improved using mass drivers instead of rockets

    • Moving the mass will be a challenging task

Obtaining Water from Ice Moons

• Water is essential for moving forward

• Possible source of water: ice moons

Chapter 5: The Venus Tethers

• Europa has twice as much water as earth's oceans

• Catching and transporting a moon through the solar system is difficult

• Space Tethers can make the process easier

• Tethers can take a payload on both ends

Europa's Role

• Europa's striders do most of the work to catapult ice to Venus

• The ice hits the Venus tethers and falls into the atmosphere as snow

• Venus tethers catch CO2 ice shot up from below and accelerated into orbit

• Excess nitrogen can be removed using the same method to lower atmospheric pressure

Terraforming Venus

• Venus would be covered by a shallow frozen ocean after a few decades or centuries

• Continents and islands would form, making Venus resemble Earth

Making Venus Habitable

• Light and heat are needed to make Venus habitable

• The last step of terraforming involves making the atmosphere breathable and adding life

Chapter 6: Atmosphere Of Planet

Avenous Day Length

• Avenous day is 2802 hours long, more than 116 earth days.

• Removing the giant mirror would result in half of the planet being grilled.

• Even without the massive atmosphere, temperatures would reach unbearable levels.

• Another set of mirrors can create a day-night cycle and control energy intake.

Atmospheric Composition

• The atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and lacks oxygen.

• The first inhabitants will likely be cyanobacteria.

• Cyanobacteria can photosynthesize and release oxygen.

• They can turn around the atmosphere of a planet and fertilize the ocean water.

• Cyanobacteria can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and turn it into nutrients.

Land Colonization

• Grinding down some of the ocean surface to create soil for nitrogen fixing plants.

• Billions of trees would spread and cover large parts of the continent.

• Venus would turn green.

• CO2 would be released strategically to supply plants and cyanobacteria.

• Orbital mirrors can provide extra light to areas already covered with plants.

Chapter 7: Vast New Planet

• Genetic engineering and expanding understanding of genetics and life machinery may allow us to engineer life as needed

• It would take several thousand years to make the atmosphere readable by humans

• Settlers would have to wear regular clothes and oxygen masks

• Venus would be a vast new planet filled with resources and sunlight

• Possible uses for carbon dioxide ice and nitrogen in space

• Potential for using Venus as a base for rocket fuel production or terraforming other planets

Terraformed Venus

• Venus is fully terraformed

• Animals roam through vast ecosystems

• Cities are being constructed

• Billions of settlers and their descendants call Venus home

• Images of Venus' past as the most hostile planet and the transformation process

Possibility and Overcoming Challenges

• Terraforming Venus is not easy and requires many things to go right

• Technology within reach of a motivated and slightly more advanced humanity

• Imagination is the only thing stopping us from achieving this future

• Imagination is a problem that is easy to overcome

Chapter 8: Conclusion

• Skillshare is an online learning community

• Offers thousands of classes for all skill levels

• Classes available in various creative disciplines

• First 1000 Courts Gazette viewers get a 1 month free trial

• Over 100000 hours of classes taken by viewers

• Kurzgesagt offers 3 Skillshare classes on animation

• Recommendation for a class on motivation and inspiration

• Scientific method for artists by Kendall Hiddigas

• Explains a 4 phase process for finding direction as an artist

• Getting excited and sparking new ideas is a great first step