(2019 Archived) - ARGUMENT V: Geomagnetic Storms on Mars vs. Geomagnetic Storms on Venus

Having written this in 2019, and originally published in 2021.. when I was 15 and 17, there would be inaccuracies that I would correct here. Having removed it, I'm publishing  again, for sake of completion so that the efforts wouldn't have gone to vain: In this present day, I believe this argument is not the best, its value to the total contribution is less, because it might not be as easy as I had claimed to avoid a geomagnetic storm in the Venusian cloud tops, as mobility would be restricted in a sense.

It was a regular Victorian morning in 1859 – the sunrise was completely normal and so was everything else. But everything changed by 11.18 a.m. with a geomagnetic storm. Now better known as the Carrington event of 1859; it continues to be one of our best examples on extreme space weather. The Carrington event had been caused by a large solar flare, followed by a coronal mass ejection (CME) ^[21]. A geomagnetic storm is normally caused by a coronal mass ejection smashing into the Earth’s magnetosphere and penetrating the atmosphere to the surface. On a daily basis, the magnetosphere protects the Earth from the solar winds, but coronal mass ejections are much more powerful: 17.5 hours after the initial flare of the Carrington event, the coronal mass ejection travelled at an average velocity of 2300 kms^-1 before slamming into the Earth’s magnetic field ^[21]! The Earth’s magnetosphere couldn’t handle its momentum and gave in. But how influential was it then?

Since the Carrington event happened at a time when technology was not as important that society crippled, the Carrington event wasn’t as influential as it would be today. But, the technology was advanced enough to have some detectable impact: For example, the storm induced electric currents in the telegraph systems at that time. That was to the extent that the telegraph operators switched-off their batteries and used this natural electricity instead! Another influence of the storm was that it brought the aurorae (the Northern and Sothern lights), which normally linger around the poles, closer to the equator. “On the night of 1 September 1859 the northern aurora pulsated with a blood-red colour and was so bright that the people in England were able to read their newspapers without any additional lighting” ^[21]! The northern aurora was seen as south as in Italy! What would happen something like this happens today?

Since we live in a world where we’re so dependent on technology, a Carrington-esque geomagnetic storm is even classified as a global catastrophic risk ^[25]! A slightly less-stronger coronal mass ejection collided with the Earth’s magnetosphere in March 1989, with Canada feeling most of its effects. The Hydro-Québec electricity grid experienced strong fluctuations which led to the protection systems shutting it down, leaving many millions without power and costing the Canadian economy ~ $6,000,000,000 ^[21]!

A Carrington-esque geomagnetic storm in modern times would pose a threat to society, which would leave many without power, satellites dying, and potential fatalities. That is even despite the Earth having a strong magnetosphere! So, if Venusian and Martian civilization were ever to meet a geomagnetic storm, how would they fare? – Especially without a magnetosphere? Unfortunately, the lack of a magnetosphere means that a technological civilization would have no chance of being unharmed during a geomagnetic storm on Mars or Venus. Still, dealing with a geomagnetic storm on one world would be better than the other, wouldn’t it?

There is an argument that the effects of a solar flare or coronal mass ejection would be lesser felt at the more distant planets; like Mars, which is approximately more than twice as far as Venus. It is a good argument, except that the solar flares and CMEs have a colossal momentum, which doesn’t appear to be much slower than at the Earth or Venus – The vacuum of interplanetary space offers no resistance to that colossal momentum.

Even the solar winds; which aren’t anywhere near solar flares or CMEs, both in scale and power, still ‘eats-away’ the Martian atmosphere as it had since the Noachian eon. Therefore, a solar storm on Mars would be more-or-less the same as that on Venus. Another possible argument is that the large circumference of the Martian orbit, with Mars being able to occupy a position of more space would mean less chance of being hit by a solar flare or CME.

True, but that also comes with a problem of a slower orbital velocity; which means that if Mars was unlucky enough to be in the way of a solar flare or CME, it would truly be a sitting duck. Venus, on the other hand, has a higher orbital velocity in an orbit of lesser circumference. That is, Venus is a faster-moving target, and such a target is more unlikely to be randomly being hit relative to a slower moving target like Mars.For the most important point for Venus, it would require the knowledge of cloud-city and cloud-archipelago dynamics: I believe that in the more distant future, many cloud-cities and colonies would tend to cluster together in a dense agglomeration which I’d like to call an archipelago (which is technically the collective noun for islands or islets). I would imagine a cloud-archipelago almost smoothly circumnavigate Venus like a plague of locusts, a swarm of budgerigars, or a school of herring^[1]. It would be quite satisfying to see such collective action in fast-forward.I postulate that the archipelago would attempt to control itself as a whole, regardless of whether they come-up with a system, or not. A capital cloud-city might be designated, with the common agreement of the archipelago, and lead it in similar fashion to a shepherd leading his flock of sheep. In such a scenario, the capital cloud-city would be common to all cities, and all cities have the right to the capital city. Or, the cloud-archipelago might be collectively controlled by every colony and city equally, as that of a colony of ants or termites^[1].

With our present technology and know-how, we can predict the happening of a solar flare or CME with prior notice; which is quite helpful. But unfortunately for half of the Earth and Mars, even with advanced notice, not much could be done for a geomagnetic storm hitting one-half of the planets. But, this gives a leg-up for Venusian colonies as cloud-cities and cloud-archipelagos are mobile. By meticulous timing and prior notice; cloud-cities, colonies and even entire cloud-archipelagos could migrate and seek shelter in the night-side of Venus, where they’d be safe from the storm.

Electricity is an essential in colonizing an alien world, especially the ones without ideal conditions to live in. On Mars, of a geomagnetic storm were to fall on one-half, that half might be vulnerable to power shortages, circuits being fried, and even critical life support systems falling. Fixing any mass malfunction of this calibre would be costly and would take a lot of time. It could even cause fatalities, if victims weren’t to be displaced and seek shelter elsewhere. This wouldn’t be a problem because during the event of a geomagnetic storm, the Venusian colonies wouldn’t even be in the front side of the planet anyway! With such a strategy, there would be no worry of entire cloud-archipelagos getting their circuits fried, and falling into the hazel abyss below.

With regard to a geomagnetic storm, the effects of a solar flare or a CME on both Venus and Mars: (1) Venus is a faster-moving target, and fast-moving targets are harder to be hit by a solar storm. (2) Mars is a slower-moving target, and slow-moving targets are more prone to being hit by a solar storm. (3) A geomagnetic storm on Mars wouldn’t be any less bad than that of Venus. (4) The Martians are mostly on the mercy of Mars’ rotation, with a half of the planet facing the sun. (5) The Venusians can modify their destiny with all of Venusian civilization staying-put in the night-side of Venus, until the geomagnetic storm passes.

Therefore, we can conclude that Venusian Cloud-Civilization is safer from a geomagnetic storm, solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) than so on Mars.

[21] Green, L. (2016). 15 million Degrees: a journey to the centre of the Sun. [Viking; Penguin Random House, UK]. Pp 221-225.

[25] Wikipedia (at 2019, February). Retrieved from (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Catastrophic_Risk ).

Achinthya Nanayakkara (30.03.2025)

Originally published - 2021 (now removed)

Originally written - 2019