Comments on: Herschel Crater on Mimas

By: Edward

Edward — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 21:11:34 +0000

Alex wrote: “I do not think that a human society is abte to work thousands of years on a single project.”

Maybe not, but the Islamic worldwide-caliphate project has been going on for quite a few centuries.

By: LocalFluff

LocalFluff — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 18:35:40 +0000

PeterF
Switch places of Venus and Mars, and we would have three habitable planets in the Solar system.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 18:09:45 +0000

@PeterF: I do not think that a human society is abte to work thousands of years on a single project. Think about, even required 10 years political support of space project is very seldom. Your scenario becomes possible if it c space launch cost nears about 0.00001 dollar/kg and the job can be done in 30 years or so. Space ship that can transport a million tons at once.

By: PeterF

PeterF — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 15:01:15 +0000

If we’re talking about terraforming Venus we would have to REMOVE atmosphere and cool the surface. what could we do with the hot gas? How about drop it on Mars, thickening the atmosphere and warming the surface? I envision a convoy of robotic atmospheric mining craft scooping the upper atmosphere of Venus and depositing it on Mars. They would probably have to be driven by a combination solar sails and ion engines. Tech available today!
Several thousands of these craft operating continuously in a loop for several thousand years would eventually terraform both planets and give humans three worlds.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 07:31:14 +0000

@LocalFluff: I think, CO2 was already already there. Venus and Earth own about some total CO2 mass, but in Earth’s case it is bounded at most in limestone (by acient and former life activity), what is not the case of Venus, where it is a free gas.

By: Localfluff

Localfluff — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 06:46:45 +0000

@Alex, Heck, I think that is what happened to Venus in order to GIVE it its atmosphere! That an icy comet hit it, stopped its rotation, resurfaced it and brought lots of CO2. Maybe it goes the other way too depending on angle of impact.

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 22:04:36 +0000

LocalFluff: Let us trow Mimas at Venus in order accelerate Venus’ roation, supply water ans eject some of its atmosphere. :-)

By: LocalFluff

LocalFluff — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 18:31:36 +0000

Just a random distribution of craters, with that big one obviously from some time ago. No obvious evidence of volcanism or tidal heating or such as seen on some objects from our Luna out to Pluto. Just rocks hitting rock. Must be useful as an historical archive, kind of a reference.

By: PeterF

PeterF — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 18:12:01 +0000

The high albedo of Mimas leads to the theory that the moon is a giant snowball. The peak is probably the slow motion splash that froze before it had a chance to subside. Since water has been described as the most important substance for solar system exploration, this is probably one of the most valuable objects in the solar system (along with the methane available on Titan). There appear to be lots of iron/nickel bodies in the asteroid belt to build vessels.

By: mkent

mkent — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 17:35:22 +0000

That’s no moon!

Of course there’s a peak in the center. That’s where the laser fires from.