(2019 Archived) - Putting Mars and Venus for Colonization to Trial

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: Here, other than some first person cringe - things still stand mostly true.. and the '84 reasons' could be simplified to 42 reasons. 

Well, when I said of putting Venusian and Martian Surfaces for colonization into trial, it’s fairly obvious that Mars would win. I mean; living in a closed habitat with pressures equivalent to 900m under the ocean and Lead melting temperatures? That fact alone would be quite enough to deem the less-extreme Martian temperatures of -63◦C ^[15], with near-vacuum pressures to be far more comfortable and far less expensive to deal with.

That is not to mention the Rayleigh scattering of light within the Venusian atmosphere, which reduces the surface light to be quite dim and eccentric to the red-side of the spectrum – more like an unusually reddishly-dark rainy day, here on the Earth. That would quite a strain in utilizing solar energy, which is literally like our only consistent source of Energy – similarly strainful for solar panel arrays, which prefer light of the blue-end of the spectrum ^[66].

Furthermore, the thick atmosphere would most likely obstruct clear communication with the Earth, which could be quite dangerous – especially during emergencies. Moreover, the Venusians would have to be confined into their habitats, which must be specially and heavily engineered to deal with the freakishly high pressures. I mean; think of how complicated, heavy and expensive the life-support systems would have to be! Literally, almost everything we sent to the Venusian surface didn’t survive for more than a few hours. Then, maintaining a thriving colony in such circumstances?! That’s simply just too impractical and unfeasible.

Frankly; it’s fair logic – if I were to ask any sane person if they would rather live in:

1) A Lead-melting Highly-Pressurized Volcanic Acid-Raining Hell.

2)     Carbon Dioxide-Freezing Low-Pressured Cold Rust-Desert.

She/He would most likely choose the second option (Mars) as it is the safer option out of the two, despitenot being the most ideal place to live in. Many seem to accept the flawless-fair logic which leads to this conclution, and Mars seems to be our designated new-target and home. For instance: Elon Musk and his SpaceX have the ambitious plan of landing our first Martians, along with the genesis of the first Martian colony by 2022 ^[69]. NASA, on the other hand, seems to plan to do so by the 2030s. Similarly, Organizations like Mars One, Dr. Robert Zubrin’s The Mars Society, and Denis Tito’s Inspiration Mars Foundation also aim at promoting human exploration, settlement, and establishment of permanent Martian colonies in the coming decades ^{[70, 71]}. Well, Mars is the most hospitable world close to our proximity and it will soon be a new haven for humanity. That is, Mars is our best next-home. Or is it?

What if I were to tell you that I could give you 84 good reasons as to why Venus is better than Mars, for our best home? Considering how I’ve just criticized Venus a short while ago, my statement might seem ironic. However, that’s because I was criticizing the Venusian surface, to be specific. Moreover, all we’ve did was the comparison of the Venusian and Martian surfaces. But, if it was not the Venusian surface, then what was I referring to? – The Venusian cloud-tops: Despite the Venusian surface being quite very abysmal, the cloud-tops are a relative heaven, even relative to the Martian surface. You see, Venus and Mars are like hotels. Hotel Venus has a bad reception and lobby, representing the service – bad first impression. However, I could tell you 84 reasons as to how Hotel Venus offers a much better service at a cheaper price. Also, with the same raison d'êtres; we could conclude Hotel Mars, which has a good and popular reception and lobby, but provides a worse service at a much higher price. How much higher exactly? Well, it could possibly sum-up to billions, trillions or even quadrillions of dollars of extra-payment, over the centuries that we might stay in it.

However, you might be asking; ‘How are we to suspend an entire civilization above the Venusian cloud-tops?’ – Well, to be succinct, that’s through Venusian civilization living in floating Cloud-Cities based on Buckminster Fuller’s Cloud Nine ^[8]!

[8] Walker, R. (2014, January 12). Will we build colonies that float over Venus like Buckminster Fuller’s “Cloud Nine?”  Retrieved from (https://www.science20.com/robert_inventor/will_we_build_colonies_that_float_over_venus_like_ buckminster_fullers_cloud_nine-127573).

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

[66] Landis, G.A. & Colozza, A.J. (2006, November). Evaluation of Long Duration flight on Venus.

[69] Retrieved from (https://www.spacex.com/mars ).

[70] Retrieved from (https://www.mars-one.com/).

[71]  Retrieved from (https://www.marssociety.org/ ).

Achinthya Nanayakkara (30.03.2025)

Originally published - 2021 (now removed)

Originallly written - 2019