Terraforming Venus: A Challenging Project for Future Colonization

Venus is in many ways similar to the Earth, but the thick atmosphere and high surface temperature presents a tough challenge to human habitation. Several proposals have been made that it may be possible to terraform Venus, modifying the environment to make the surface more earthlike. This project would require removing or sequestering the main portion of atmosphere, to eliminate most of the “greenhouse effect” that keeps the surface temperature high. A review of several methods proposed to do this shows that this would be a difficult project; requiring an unreasonable amount of energy, or the use of highly advanced technologies. At altitudes above the main cloud layer, the atmosphere of Venus reaches a temperature and pressure comparable to terrestrial conditions, and an alternate concept would be to engineer a habitable environment at this altitude; either by floating at about 55 km above the surface, or building up structures from the surface to reach these altitudes.