(2019 Archived) - A Future in a New Venusian Space-Age?

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:

Someday in the newborn phase-III Venusian civilization, two people would make a social breakthrough; a breakthrough that would shape the course of humanity’s future in space and beyond. The breakthrough is the birth of the first extraterrestrial child (Let’s assume them to be twins, for a more humane usage of pronouns in the uncertainty of its gender), and their parents would get the hitherto impossible opportunity of raising them.

Still, they’re special not only for just being the first to be born on a foreign world, but for deeper reasons. Unlike any other potential children from across the inner solar system (Except the Earth), they are much more well suited to live and be-raised. They are born free from the sorrows of being-raised in an inappropriate gravitational field, and the other constraints that hinder life unavoidable .

I believe that their birth would be celebrated in a duality of worlds: The Venusian colonists would rejoice over the fact that, the seeds that would sow – the seeds that would sow a new Venusian population are not only fertile, but independent from those Earth. Us here on the Earth would rejoice over the fact that, the survival of humanity isn’t in the indifferent hands of the Earth, but in ours; Humanity would still be able to sail the cosmic ocean, and become a space-faring  civilization independent from the worlds, if ever the mother Earth were to be gone. In simpler terms, the birth of the first Venusian would be a milestone in our species’ pursuits to become a space-faring civilization.  Venus which began as a haven; a harbour of human life, is now its progenitor and nurse. Even if the Earth were to see its demise by some natural disaster or artificial cataclysm –  a realized global catastrophic risk – the human race would continue to prosper on Venus.

Let’s not forget that we’re on the verge of planning our next cosmic move; which should be our current priority, as a planetary civilization. We have to spread our seeds in other cosmic islets; we have to colonize another world. Now again, let’s look back to our two candidates; Mars and Venus. Don’t get me wrong: Mars is an amazing place for exploration and research. It might prove to be an archetypal fundamental component on our understanding of life, our origins, Mars itself, the fragility of worlds and a diverse group of other vast areas of science. Mars could even be a potential place of a breakthrough, which might revolutionize humanity. But based on our current repertoire of extraplanetary colonization, it not our most ideal option; we’ve seen that Mars isn’t good for human habitation yet, but everything else would be quite fine.

Yet, it’s distressing to say that, the colonization and manned exploration of the red planet is widely accepted to be our next cosmic move, at the present time of my writing. Again, if we ask, why is that so well accepted? It is mainly owing to Mars’s indissoluble popularity, which it got since the canali scandal along with the almost-immortal impact created by the thoughts of intelligent Martian life in vintage society. Mars’s popularity has its roots deeply embedded in our contemporary social milieu . Swimming against the currents of our social rivers is quite very difficult, seemingly too difficult .

Instead, a better strategy would be to induce a new popularity for Venus; popularity lost since the 1980s. In some form of Neo-Venusianism, which would grow into the roots of the common mind of humanity; and lead the fallen star back on the red carpet? Nevertheless, Word on the hospitality of the Venusian atmosphere would have to spread, regardless if it were from mouth-to-ear or by mass media. The thing that matters is that, more-and-more people become aware of it day-by-day. Something worthy to be happy of is that, it is actually going on at an accelerating rate.

If it were to reach a population large enough, to change the wide belief of Mars being our next home; I believe that it would drastically change our future in space, as we’ve taken the proper cosmic step. The sky before and after sunrise from where I live, is rather vague and cloudy; But, if I were to see the evening star, in either of its twice-daily incarnations, I would wish for humanity to take our proper cosmic step. I would wish for scepticism over Mars’s popularity overriding its cumbersome reality, and cynicism over the fetters of surfacism. I would wish for humanity to prosper in a multitude of worlds, with a miscellany of opportunities from the grand cosmic ocean we call home. But, it will all begin with a relatively small step of colonizing Venus first; or rather to start colonizing Venus to begin with. The Venusian cloud-cities, colonies and archipelagos will have to undergo a cumbersome process to become reality, like the growth of any other civilization from scratch. Yet, it is still the most feasible path to laying the foundation for humanity becoming an interplanetary civilization, relative to any other planet in the solar system.

Still, Venus – the civilization of cloud-cities; it’s a world which likely we won’t be able to see. Being a 15 year-old today, I might have passed-away well before the dawn of Venutropolis. The most I might get to see; might be a final glimpse of phase-V HAVOC. This is something many of us alive today could relate to. Nevertheless, that shouldn’t stop us from doing the ground-work needed for it today. It is our responsibility to initiate the process; it must already begin, in order for the future to work on it. We’ve found the initial pioneering steps to be of the HAVOC missions, which would be ready to fly by the late 2020s, at the most ideal circumstances. When Venus regains her popularity, the HAVOC mission would exponentially gain-so too. The HAVOC missions are literally our lifeline to Venus, which we would get to see in action within our lifetimes. I would also wish by the evening star, that HAVOC would receive the necessary support needed for achieving its goals, and that every mission would end successfully.

Achinthya Nanayakkara (31.03.2025)

Originally written - 2019