(2019 Archived) POTENTIAL PROBLEMS IN COLONIZING VENUS AND THEIR SOLUTIONS [Outdated]

 

It is inappropriate to abruptly conclude an argument, without accounting for some potential risks and problems, which might have to be encountered. This chapter is about addressing these problems, with potential solutions, which might even be to our advantage. I’ve jotted down five potential problems; we might face in Venus, below:

1.      The psychological effects associated with colonizing an alien world

2.      High Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun

3.      Planetary protection issues

4.      Sulphuric acid issues

5.      Long day-night cycle

 

The Potential Psychological Effects Associated With Colonizing an Alien World

Even though the Venusians are free from the burden of the physiological effects of living on Mars, they still have to deal with the psychological ones, which are common to all secluded colonies wherever they may be. Stimuli for majority of those psychological effects include ^[19]:

·         Isolation

·         Confinement

·         Limited habitation volume

·         Boredom

·         Regimented work-schedule

·         Absence of fresh air

·         Strangeness of environment

·         Awareness of risk

“Each factor contributes to mood disturbances, impaired intellectual function, problems with work, interpersonal conflicts, loss of sleep, apathy and withdrawal” ^[19]. Problems with work and interpersonal conflict could lead to withdrawal; the feeling of being casted-out from a group, which could be quite a traumatic experience, especially in an isolated community. Withdrawal could further “lead to more serious semi-psychotic indications such as hallucinations, crying, loss of appetite, silence, paranoia and lethargy” ^[19]. Furthermore, the crew might adapt a ‘me versus the rest of you’ mentality ^[19], which could reduce productivity due to loss of team-work, a schism in the colony, or potentially violence.

Psychological Countermeasures

How are we to address this issue? Well, there is a list of recommended psychological countermeasures, originally intended for Mars, but could be used in the context of Venus or any other isolated colony. Here is the alleged list ^[19]:

¨      Habitat design is as Earth-like as Possible.

Þ     Earth scenes on video and art.

Þ     Allow reminders of home

Þ     Allow personal touches

Þ     Allow privacy

¨      Appropriate Crew Selection and Composition.

Þ     Select mature and stable astronauts

Þ     Select self-aware astronauts

Þ     Select astronauts with sensitivity to potential problems

¨      Give crew a sense of control over their activities.

¨      Permit creative use of free-time.

¨      Provide frequent two-way communication with the Earth.

¨      Provide supporting network of family and friends.

¨      Train team in social dynamics.

¨      Instil view of being a colonist as a lifestyle; not as an endurance race to survive.

¨      “Psychotherapy: encourage psychological assessment on a regular basis with professional assistance” ^[19].

¨      “Awareness training: train in relaxation, meditation, biofeedback and autogenic techniques to help with sleep, reduce anxiety, increase calmness, focus attention, decrease stress, [and] increase awareness” ^[19].

¨      “Regular physical fitness training sessions: exercise to increase energy and reduce stress” ^[19]. 

However, “if a psychological ‘event’ does occur, treatment and/or management possibilities would include pharmaceuticals, crisis intervention, psychiatric evaluation and therapy, restraint and/or quarantine” ^[19]. The countermeasures taken might mitigate most chances of an ‘event’ happening, though.

High Dose of UV Radiation from the Sun

Before going for a fun day at the beach, we tend to apply sunscreen all over ourselves, to get protected from Ultraviolet (UV) radiation. This practice is done despite the Earth having an ozone layer and a strong magnetosphere. Then how about Venus which lies 0.21AU closer to the Sun, with neither an ozone layer nor a magnetosphere? Although the atmosphere is adequate protection from cosmic radiation, the cloud-cities will have to deal with a 42% increased dose of UV radiation, with no protection by the atmosphere.

Measures for Dealing with High UV Content

Sunscreen wouldn’t be quite practical, or helpful in protecting against the austere sunburns, that the Venusians might have to deal with. Instead we have a simpler option: “It is not hard to shield a habitat from UV or to protect from UV…outside a habitat. Specially coated glass for instance would do fine” ^[1].Similar UV-protective coated glasses, have been used for spectacles. It wouldn’t be much of a challenge to coat the interfaces to the outside, glass and related parts of the cloud-cities, with UV-protective material. UV, and the sunburns and skin cancers it might give, would be an issue to the Venusians in such a circumstance.

 

Planetary Protection Issues

“Planetary protection is a guiding principle in the designing of an interplanetary mission, aiming to prevent biological contamination of both the target celestial body and the Earth in the case of sample-return missions” ^[21]. It is basically an ethic, which might prevent potential or possible indigenous life which evolved separately from our own evolutionary tree, from contamination during a planetary visit. Planetary protection aims at protecting such life, from being outcompeted from our contaminants (Forward Contamination) or the transfer of potential extraterrestrial life, to our biosphere and out-competing us (Back Contamination). Still, forward contamination is the likely to take place in most scenarios.

 

Possible Forward Contamination

But, “Both SO₂ [Sulphur Dioxide] and H₂O [Water] are removed by the formation of H₂SO₄ [Sulphuric Acid]” ^[22], in the upper Venusian atmosphere and cloud-tops. Could life thrive in such inhospitable conditions? Indeed it could: In fact, we have our own examples for acidophilic micro-organisms, which includes Picrophyilus, which “grows optimally in sulphuric acid at   pH 0.7 and is capable of growth (not just survival but growth) down to pH -0.06 (1.2M sulphuric acid) ^[23]. You can find Picrophyilus living naturally in acid mine drainage, sulphur emitting fumaroles (solfataras) or concentrated sulphuric acid in the wild ^[23]. 

Furthermore, “it has been speculated that any hypothetical microorganisms inhabiting the atmospheres, if present, could employ ultraviolet light (UV) emitted by the sun as an energy source, which could be an explanation for dark lines observed in UV photographs of Venus” ^[24].  Shortly, The Venusians would have to be careful regarding their activities, in order to protect potential aerial life-forms from possible forward contamination.

Possible Back Contamination                                                             

The chances of the following circumstances addressed under this section, are quite very slim (I mean-as slim as slim could be) and mostly speculation. But still feel that they are worthy to be talked about: There is a possibility that aerial Venusian micro-organisms, if present, might pose a threat as a pathogen. If we were to assume that any potential aerial micro-organisms are pathogenic, it should be reiterated that they are alien; they evolved separately to us, and our immune system never dealt with them before. The Venusians would have to rely on their immunity, and give a fight, until suitable vaccines were to be developed. Moreover, they might not necessarily have to be a human pathogen: They might be a pathogen to Venusian crops, plants, or trees ^[23]. Also, let’s just refer to the so-called ‘possible aerial Venusian micro-organisms’, as the Venaeri-microbes’, for the sake of our convenience.

Until ‘the vaccine’ is created, the Venaeri-microbes could use advantage of the Venusians’ defencelessness and directly infect them, as with the case of Legionaries’ disease, which is caused by an amoeba, that could live and reproduce in the human lung.  The Venaeri-microbes might be able to live on their skin, lungs, sinuses and even stomachs. The stomach! Its gastric juices are the ideal place for any pathogenic Venaeri-microbe. The acidophilic Venaeri-microbes might grow, develop and reproduce in their stomachs, interfere with digestion, or create or synthesize allergens as a by-product ^[23].

Similarly, the Venaeri-microbes might be able to “[take] the place of some other ‘organism’ in [their] ecosystem [i.e. the Venusian cloud-cities and habitats] but behaves differently so disrupting natural cycles” ^[23]. Furthermore, the Venaeri-microbes might “well create chemicals that resembles the ones in our own body but are not identical and get substituted for them, and so disrupt the ways our cells work, or the way cells of other organisms work ^[23]. We have a similar example for this phenomenon here on the Earth: It is the story of green-algae that produces β-N-Methylamino-1-Alanine (BMMA), which is a non- protein amino acid that substitutes for L-Serine, which is a protein amino acid in our cells. This substitution is known to lead to cells clustering together, and cause Alzheimer’s disease. An analogous incident of similar calibre is plausible with the Venaeri-microbes ^[23].

Figure 18: What are these dark streaks observed on this ultraviolet photograph of Venus? Not much is known about this phenomenon, but they are speculated indigenous Venusian micro-organisms, which employ ultraviolet life in their metabolism and functioning. This UV image was taken by the Pioneer Venus Orbiter 

I reiterate that, the chances of the circumstances addressed above, are merely speculation, with chances-being-true that are as slim as slim-could-be!

Sulphuric Acid Issues

Venus is infamous for its ‘precipitation’ of concentrated sulphuric acid, along its other extreme conditions. It is unanimously accepted that, the Venusian atmosphere houses many species of sulphur, and its aerosols: “Due to the lack of an ocean, most sulphur species on Venus reside in the atmosphere, attaining concentrations of ~105 times those in the terrestrial atmosphere. Four sulphur species have been firmly identified: SO₂ [Sulphur Dioxide], SO [Sulphur Oxide], OCS [Carbonyl Sulphide], and H₂SO₄ [Sulphuric Acid] (vapor and aerosols)” ^[22].

The magnitude of sulphur species in the Venusian atmosphere is great to the extent of Venus having its own ‘sulphur cycle’. And about the part of the cycle relevant to the upper Venusian atmosphere: “Above the cloud tops, SO₂ is oxidized to SO₃, leading to the formation of H₂SO₄” ^[22]. Let’s oversimplify it;

Firstly, Sulphur Dioxide reacts with Oxygen to form Sulphur Trioxide, as follows:                                                                                                

2SO₂ + O₂ → 2SO₃                                                                

Afterwards, the Sulphur Trioxide will further react with Water, and produce Sulphuric Acid, as follows:                                                                                    

 SO₃ + H₂O → H₂SO₄

Dealing with Sulphuric Acid Issues                                             

When dealing with sulphuric acid issues; everything outside habitats, the outermost skin of habitats, and likely-exposed regions, must be designed to be acid-resistant. Materials like Tungsten (W), Lead (Pb), Glass, and Polytetrafluoroethene (Teflon) could be used as acid-resistant coating ^[1]. [Refer page 87 for more information].

Using Sulphuric Acid Environment to our Advantage           

Sulphuric Acid and Hydrogen Sulphide are the most viable sources of Hydrogen, in the Venusian atmosphere, better compared to the 0.0012% that naturally exists ^{[13, 15]}. Moreover, it could even be used as a means of generating oxygen, water, and sulphur.

The aforementioned reactions of the sulphur cycle are in fact, reversible. Therefore, the thermal decomposition of both Sulphuric Acid and Sulphur Trioxide, are effective methodologies of generating Water and Oxygen respectively, as follows:

Sulphuric acid decomposes into Water and Sulphur Trioxide, via heating;                                                                                                        

H₂SO₄ + (∆Heat) → SO₃ + H₂O                                                                              

The Water produced will be safe for consumption, once determined with a neutral pH, and mineralized. The Sulphur Trioxide, on the other hand, could be further thermally decomposed into Sulphur Dioxide and Oxygen;                                                                                                         

2SO₃ + (∆Heat) → 2SO₂ + O₂                                                                                 

The Oxygen produced by this reaction is breathable, and the Sulphur Trioxide needed could be obtained from the outside. But, the re-using method is more sustainable.

The Claus process is a similar procedure for generating not only water, but elemental Sulphur too: By definition, the Claus process is a methodology of obtaining Water, while recovering Sulphur, from gaseous Hydrogen Sulphide ^[34]. Simply, Hydrogen Sulphide and Sulphur Dioxide are reacted under high temperatures, to form elemental Sulphur and Water, as follows;

4H₂S + 2SO₂ + (∆Heat) → 3S₂ + 4H₂O

A unique feature of this process is that it manages to use Hydrogen Sulphide, which naturally exists in the Venusian atmosphere. Sulphur Dioxide, needed for this process, could be obtained from the thermal decomposition of Sulphur Trioxide. Catalysts including Aluminium (III) Oxide and Titanium (IV) Oxide could be used to expedite this reaction. The only problem is that it needs an enormous temperature, similar to the Bosch reaction, which rounds up to ~850^oC. On the bright side, it is a reliable way of producing sulphur, which can provide fertile ions, for Venusian crops.

Last, but not least, both Oxygen and Hydrogen, could be obtained via the electrolysis of atmospheric Sulphuric Acid, which is still aques despite being suspended, miles above the surface. Perhaps, after some diluting, atmospheric sulphuric acid solution is free to be electrolyzed as follows:

Hydroxide ions, found in this solution, migrate towards the negatively charged anode; will be oxidized to form gaseous and elemental Oxygen along with Water and electrons. The anodic reaction is as follows:                                                                                                 

4OH^- → O₂ + 2H₂O + 4e^-                                         

Hydrogen ions present in the solution, on the other hand, will migrate towards the positive cathode and be reduced to form gaseous and elemental hydrogen .                                                                                                                

2H⁺ + 2e^- → H₂                                                

Hydrogen and Oxygen are produced in this procedure: Doesn’t it ring a bell? Again, it is Rocket Fuel! The Hydrogen produced could be used for the Bosch reaction. This electrolysis of Sulphuric Acid produces the same products as with the electrolysis of Water (refer page 40), doesn’t it? Yeah, it is true for all aqueous acids.

 

The Longer Day-Night Cycle

It must be known that the Venusian day is longer than a Venusian year! It’s true: The Venusian year lasts for 224.7 Earth-days, while a Venusian year lasts 243 Earth-days ^[13]; The Venusian day is longer than the Venusian year, by 18.3 Earth-days! But the Venusians would not be dealing with this, as they would not be staying stationery, relative to the Venusian surface.

 Instead, the day-night cycle experienced by the Venusian cloud-cities, are determined by a phenomenon, namely the ‘super-rotation of the Venusian atmosphere’, with winds that circumnavigate Venus every ~110 hours. This implies that the Venusians will experience a day and night, of 2 Earth-days each, with 4 Earth-days between subsequent sunrises or sunsets. It is survivable, not at all dangerous, but still on the longer side.

 

Conclusion

I would like to conclude this chapter with the message that the advantages of a Venusian colony, far outweighs its disadvantages, and that we’ve even solved many of these problems, before we have even faced them. We’ve even manage to use an alleged disadvantage, to our advantage.

Furthermore, I would like to end, while addressing of a constraint to any interplanetary mission: It is self-sufficiency and the ability of creating closed habitats. Until we’ve mastered the art of self sufficiency and the art of building closed habitats, interplanetary colonization and its missions “will surely fail in some Apollo 13 type disaster, with the death of the colonists” ^[1]. The same is true for Venus.

With the Venusian cloud-tops are now proven to be, as safe and hospitable, as it could be; Venus will be recognized as our successive domicile; our next home and colonization can begin. But, how exactly are we to colonize Venus? Well, it would initiate at an exceedingly ambitious or grand scale; everything has its humble beginnings, followed by modest development.

The consequent chapter is dedicated to give an insight on HAVOC (High Altitude Venus Operational Concept), which is a series of proposed missions which aim at providing a foundation to build our Venusian colonies on. But, before diving straight into HAVOC, I will begin with the concept of floating laboratories on Venus, followed by Venusian airships and aircrafts, with the intention of giving background knowledge, which would be indispensable for clear comprehension of HAVOC. Please note that; I would not discuss cloud-cities in the next chapter, as they work on a different milieu, to that of HAVOC which works on the buoyancy of Helium. (It will be in Chapter Six).       

Old Bibliography (Below)

Achinthya Nanayakkara (31.03.2025)

Original - 2019