Colonizing Venus

We continue our look at colonizing the solar system by visiting Venus, and exploring both the options for vast floating habitats in the upper atmosphere as well as full terraforming of the planet.
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Cover Art by Jakub Grygier: www.artstation.com/artist/jak...
Graphics Team:
Edward Nardella
Jarred Eagley
Justin Dixon
Katie Byrne
Kris Holland of Mafic Stufios: www.maficstudios.com
Misho Yordanov
Pierre Demet
Sergio Botero: www.artstation.com/sboterod?f...
Stefan Blandin
Script Editing:
Andy Popescu
Connor Hogan
Edward Nardella
Eustratius Graham
Gregory Leal
Jefferson Eagley
Luca de Rosa
Mark Warburton
Michael Gusevsky
Mitch Armstrong
MolbOrg
Naomi Kern
Philip Baldock
Sigmund Kopperud
Tiffany Penner
Music:
Markus Junnikkala, "Hail the Victorious Dead"
Dan McLeod, "Vacuum"
AJ Prasad, "Staring Through"

[@derekburge5294]

There is no greater or more noble goal for terraforming than adding two hours of sleep to its day.

[@aurelia8028]

You... i like you

[@robertisham5279]

Look it may great and all. But its not going to happen or at least soon. It's unrealistic.

[@jr2904]

@@robertisham5279 we are aware of the obvious, mate.

[@zensunni1715]

@@robertisham5279 sci-fi and futurism are an aspirational exercise, not a pragmatic one. Dream big.

[@king_big_pp]

First law passed: 10 hour work days minimum

[@jrag1000]

Venus would truly be "Heaven above Hell below"

[@marcopohl4875]

places on venus should be named after mythological places related to the afterlife (purgatory city, Jetstream Styx and so on)

[@oskarfunes2505]

Sounds like an Alice in Chains lyric

[@Jenna_Talia]

@@marcopohl4875 purgatory city sounds a bit on the nose, but mythological names are 100% something I'd love.

[@jpotter2086]

I love how this channel is so organized and reliable. What other KZbinr calls its shots 6wks in advance? My gods, it's like a professional operation!

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Thanks

[@nhstorage]

So it turns out the first alien life discovered may be from Venus.

[@melvinjansen2338]

Dont we call those women?

[@Mahlak_Mriuani_Anatman]

@@melvinjansen2338 lmao

[@linz8291]

lol...u wanna see some nordic beauty and charming gentlemen on the Venus?

[@joshuareed8243]

"Hang gliding in Venus' atmosphere", say no more, I'm in. Let's do it.

[@00BillyTorontoBill]

didnt he say Mars atmosphere? too much acid in the venus one...

[@Appletank8]

Mars has a thin atmosphere, not likely

[@00BillyTorontoBill]

Think youre very right about it. As a skydiver I weight more than a pound. www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/features/mars_airplane.html "It would have a flight time of right around 10 minutes. The aircraft would be gliding for the last 2,000 feet to the surface of Mars and have a range of about 20 miles," Bowers said. "The actual aircraft's wingspan when it is deployed would measure 24 inches and weigh less than a pound," Bowers said. "With Mars gravity 38 percent of what it is on Earth, that actually allows us up to 2.6 pounds and the vehicle will still weigh only 1 pound on Mars.

[@ronschlorff7089]

landing might be, let's just say, "tricky"!!

[@MouseGoat]

But if you fall down, wellcome to hell and injoy you stay

[@IkarimTheCreature]

I've been looking forward to see this one, as i think venus is the most convenient place to settle. Why? 1. Almost same gravity as earth 2. Alot of sunlight for solar power 3. Cozy atmosphere WITHOUT SULFURE IN THE UPPER REGION 4. Nearer to earth -> less travel time 5. Airship colonies > living in mars caves (literal space cavemen) 6. Split Co2 and you've got essentialy a rocket fuel, building material and alot of this nice oxygen stuff that keeps you alive 7. Spaceplanes for leisure 8. Atmospheric braking 9. Roman godess of love 10. Fucking retrograde rotation

[@IkarimTheCreature]

I wrote this before i watched the episode, so keep in mind that things might be already listed in the video

[@hamstsorkxxor]

Ikarim Those are some good points. Still, Mars does have some things going for it as well. 1. It's easily mineable. If you have a proper power source (be it fission or fusion) it's arguably easier to mine Mars than earth, due to the low gravity... speaking of which 2. The low gravity makes construction of mass drivers and space-elevators possible, even with materials mass produced today. Graphene not needed. 3. It is conveniently close to the asteroid belt, which combined with the low gravity makes constructing orbital rings easier. 4. Infrastructure construction can be done with very primitive technology. Most current equipment used on earth could be used on Mars, just switching the internal combustion engine for electric. 5. You can take a walk on Mars, and touch all the rocks. As a geologist, this is an important point for me:) 6. Get your arse to Mars! Frankly, I see no reason colonization of Mars and Venus should be a serial process. Let's do both in parallel!

[@g.seangourlay2593]

Ikarim Sorry guys, I am and will always be on team Luna. It would be a smaller colony, but it's cheap, easy, and has got the best nighttime view this side of the asteroid belt.

[@josephburchanowski4636]

#occupyVenius

[@hamstsorkxxor]

Joseph Burchanowski #OccupyUranus

[@DimitriosDenton]

I liked the idea of shading most of Venus and leaving one side exposed to the sun to speed it up. How long would that take to make Venus a 24h day planet? Any scientist out there care to answer?

[@turkeykillerex9509]

Not a scientist but light isn't that heavy

[@manwithanaccent4315]

Thankyou Isaac. I could listen to your videos all day... Oh, I just did!

[@2sudonim]

If you build a cloud city big enough, it doesn't actually have to be light. This is something Buckminister Fuller pointed out. If you build a geodesic dome large enough, a kilometer or so in diameter, you only need to heat the air inside by about five degrees Fahrenheit to get it to cancel out the weight of the structure itself and float. This is assuming a dome made out of steel and glass. This is one of those cases where the square-cube law actually works for you rather than against you. The structure of the dome is only the surface, but the buoyancy is controlled by the volume; the bigger you build your dome, the greater the payload fraction of the dome is. A dome large enough to cover Midtown Manhattan (~3.2km) could support the weight of all the buildings in Midtown by raising the internal temperature five degrees and dropping the pressure by one or two percent. Again, such a structure would be glass, steel, and concrete in construction. You could get away with a city made from carbon and silicates with meter-thick radiation shields with a self-sustaining population of a quarter million people that could float at STP with a breathable atmosphere. If you invert the dome, then you have a flat roof you build a runway on; the rest of the surface would be glass embedded with thin cell solar panels to block about half the light, dropping it to Earth normal. You could supply all the rest of the power with a nuclear plant hanging from the bottom of the dome. You could put a relatively small and light shadow shield above it to protect the city. One hundred twenty-five of these domes would give you the population of Canada or the UK; that's plenty enough to have a self-sustaining civilization.

[@zigzagduck952]

same princible as a hot air balloon. interesting.

[@MrKago1]

2sudonim So basically the same principle that keeps aircraft carriers afloat. nice observation!

[@dantheman2907]

2sudonim but what holds all the weight while it's being built?

[@2sudonim]

+The Elephant in the Room You build it in space. You cover the surface in silicon carbide and pyrolytic carbon tiles, similar to the space shuttle tiles but hexagons and several meters across. It makes a thermally resilient blunt body. The whole thing can then be de-orbited. The structure is both massive and light, so it slows down quickly, high in the atmosphere before most heating can take place. The whole thing is a giant balloon so you don't even need parachutes.

[@2sudonim]

+Necroticus Sort of, boats float because of displacement. It's more like what keeps a submarine from sinking to the bottom of the ocean. I remember Mythbusters showing that you can make a literal lead balloon some years ago, as long as the balloon was huge. Basically, as long as the mass of the internal volume plus the mass of the structure is less than the mass of a similar volume of surrounding atmosphere, it will float.

[@markvickroy6725]

Issac I have decided your "speech impediment" is maybe the best & most soothing narration for these videos possible. Tremendous. Keep em comming buddy. "Maws" 👍👍👍😎

[@chadbusch8541]

It's like hearing Carl sagan say billions

[@li-lan5776]

He's just using UwU translator irl

[@couchpotato4928]

Some of the best narrators in my opinion have accents and/or speech impediments

[@simonsobrero4714]

Sorry Isaac, to be a narrator shouldn’t be your job here. With all do respect, very annoying to hear.

[@shooting6lasers]

Is it a speech impediment? I just assumed he was from Louisiana cajun country.

[@lorensims4846]

I've always been a big fan of colonizing Venus. This is a very nice discussion and overview. I'm concerned that we cannot live for a long time in reduced gravity and Venus may actually our only option, besides space colonies. "Attack ships off Orion's shoulder" Ha! I loved that!

[@kingdomofbird8174]

Venus gravity is 0.9 of Earth's gravity Is quite much the same

[@lorensims4846]

@@kingdomofbird8174 Venus is often considered to be Earth’s twin sister.

[@UpperDarbyDetailing]

​@@kingdomofbird8174yeah... That's what they said...

[@Vienna3080]

Im here after the Venus Phosphine discovery

[@couchpotato4928]

@@10gamer64 and dark spots in the solar system were most likely not black holes. This isn’t conclusive evidence but even if there’s a chance it’s still exciting Plus if it’s not life we learned a new chemical formula for phosphine which will help us detect life on other planets, so either way it’s good news

[@kayrosis5523]

Did you seriously suggest transferring a moon from the gas giants to venus? That is among the coolest ideas i've ever heard. As always, a great video!

[@dardo1201]

Attack ships off the shoulder of Orion, brilliant reference man :D. Even if it's all tears in the rain

[@rd-gi6jw]

E M , proof that all those moments actually will not be lost in time :-)

[@miguelpereira9859]

Masterpiece baby

[@justin188541]

Rutger Hauer is smiling.

[@YYmmmYY]

?? Explain

[@wstavis3135]

​@@YYmmmYY Blade Runner

[@sirlight4954]

An incredible style of telling a story from the perspective of somebody from inside the story. While does not attribute to the scientific value of the information, having some context for background imagination is always helpful and for sure improves overall quality. I was almost surprised for not having some farewell from our traveler before we started discussing the fall schedule, which our traveler presumably does not know.

[@connerl5172]

Who could possibly dislike this?

[@Sizifus]

Can't wait for the episode on Titan terraforming. Titan always seemed to me as one of the most fascinating extraterrestrial worlds in the solar system. It's a moon with an extremely dense atmosphere, has weather and oceans made out of carbohydrates. Its dense atmosphere and low gravity create conditions for humans to fly with gliding gear with power equivalent to that generated by their muscles. How cool is that?

[@andreproudian7032]

Titan is very cool in fact. Figuratively and literally.

[@bernardedwards8461]

Far too cool for any sane person to want to live there. For a start, the journey would take 25 years for the round trip. Dip your hand in liquid nitrogen to find out how it would feel on Titan. Even Mars will only have a few small scientific stations, not great cities as on Earth.

[@sadiqahmed4143]

@@bernardedwards8461 in the earliest Centuries yes

[@ericgolightly8450]

​@@bernardedwards8461 Give it a few hundred years. Or probably a few thousand.

[@UpperDarbyDetailing]

​@@bernardedwards8461you're too pessimistic

[@oldered5663]

I love the idea of a "Fake moon" in orbit of venus made out of a carbon shell that is holding all the excess sulfur and nitrogen for trade as sort of a trade outpost and the moon acting as a grav tractor to spin up the planet.

[@HuntingTarg]

That is actually a neat idea - I keep wondering 'what would we do with all the sulfur?!' Outstanding, I like it! Way better than bombarding the planet with energy or offworld mass projectiles.

[@SMiki55]

What if we use Mercury as Venus's moon tho

[@HuntingTarg]

SMiki55 Mercury is too massive to move even in dozens of generations (i.e. less than 1,000 years), and shifting the orbit of one planet, even a small one like Mercury, could have undesirable tidal consequences over the millennia. A well-balanced system (I speak in the general case of systems, not just astronomy) such as our solar one should not be tampered with hastily or lightly. Besides, Mercury is one of those 'home field' phenomena we can point to and go 'see that? That is how we verified relativity.' It's like the monuments of ancient cultures - we should think very carefully about overturning them. An artificial moon, or one built up around an asteroid 'seedling', would be more feasible and more practical.

[@HuntingTarg]

Sreenath Aether That would require massive reflectors that we couldn't build until Venus' surface cooled below the curing temperature of Iron (so that we could set down steel foundation anchors that would not soften and break). Using an orbiting body as a tidal gravity tractor could happen much sooner; also, getting the planet spinning would promote convection currents, which could lead to rapid cooling over centuries if a planetary shield were built (if you can call a surface temperature decrease of ~3°C/year rapid 😊 ).

[@darkflightdreamer1698]

me too

[@BensBoringVideos]

I like the way you refer to colonizing Mars and Venus in the past present tenses. For those precious milliseconds there's a part of me that forgets you're referring to a possible future and I'm able to convince myself that these colonies actually exist. Makes me hopeful for the future of humanity.

[@exittierone]

I love the fact that in this future even simple bar tenders have an in-depth understanding of orbital mechanics and various types of superstructures and what they could be used for, thought that last one is kinda obvious

[@michaelpettersson4919]

I got to give it to George Lucas, Cloud City seem to be possible after all and we can build it on Venus. 😊

[@2sudonim]

+Cozeg Spiked Bespin, the name of the planet, has a biosphere. Luke could breathe because oxygen was being generated by what amount to aero-plankton in the upper cloud layers.

[@Gunth0r]

thank #RalphMcQuarrie as well!

[@hedgehog3180]

Did u know that clud city was filmed on venu?????

[@theutopianoutopioan464]

Michael Pettersson, So long as you bring your own water to Venus and you can make blimps or balloons that don't leak, you can live on Venus. Venus's atmosphere, about 50km up, Venus is practically a utopia planet!

[@IDNeon357]

@TheGhostofXmasPast OrFuture yavin, the site of the death star isnt the same planet is Bespin, the site of cloud city

[@1simo93521]

I love the optemism of this channel, it makes me so happy!

[@williamkinsey4979]

Simo there's alot of optimism in the world. Don,t be brainwashed by all the negativity.

[@HuntingTarg]

lool the handle and the comment...

[@IDNeon357]

Have you gotten to the end of the series yet? Not optimistic unless you consider artificial intelligence mimicking our existence over and over in a loop destined to die with the Universe an "optimistic" outcome

[@punctuationman334]

IDNeon357 what’s the best possible outcome then?

[@falcychead8198]

23:53 "That's no space station, it's a moon!"

[@MisterAsshole2U]

Your videos are WONDERFULLY thoughtful and stimulating. Thank you for an amazing repository of thought provoking content! Subscribed!

[@Teboski78]

Careful who you go around giving technology to Isaac. We don't want a repeat of the Krogan Rebellions.

[@jezzard123]

Each week I oddly find myself looking forward to Thursday, I wonder why.

[@kazaddum2448]

Isaac should make a vid about it.

[@stefanr8232]

If we speed up earth's rotation do we get more updates?

[@segasoldier6665]

Since I found this channel I became crasy about it too .

[@joelmaster329]

Jezzard123 same here man

[@samharris3508]

Simon András Péter get over it or go somewhere else.

[@flamebreakk]

As always, thank you for your episode!

[@Krystallen]

Isaac, thank you for all your videos! I love them and learn at the same time! Keep them up, please!

[@Mentosmen96]

Arthursday is my favorite day for a reason

[@jetflaque8187]

dear world. ^^ this is a great vid. watch it. kind regards, me

[@kewlztertc5386]

I like how he talks, adds character, and distinction.

[@kylebutler7142]

Like Barry Kripke from Big Bang Theory

[@charlessmith2643]

Always enjoy your episodes. This one fascinated me with the possibilities. Thanks again

[@rebelbeammasterx8472]

11:23 An "air-aircraft carrier."

[@josephhsu3221]

Helicarrier like from marvel

[@hansolo4017]

i think my finger got whiplash from clicking that fast.

[@emmamay3820]

The link clicked first!

[@sparcer1]

I am glad i found this channel, such amazing content. And thanks for CC, am near deaf really helps me understand.

[@TheLeontheking]

i am so happy i got redirected to this channel! Awesome how you include all those scientific ideas in a story!!

[@SarabandeGreens]

So jazzed for this one. I've always found Venus to be a more interesting prospect than Mars, and hearing you synthesize in your amazing way about it is sure to be a highlight. Cheers, and thanks as always!

[@eastofeden9487]

what about all of its crazy vulcanism? I wouldn't want to live there when the surface was repaved with lava

[@manray1100]

Star Trek Theory, in a generation, everyone would be a spindly freak and therefore no one would be. it's like when humans moved from Africa to the higher latitudes. everyone became pale skinned weirdos, and then the racism started.

[@gagarinone]

EastofEden Venus of today is as Earth was 3-4 billion years ago.

[@RevolverRez]

Personally, I'd feel safer living in a reinforced domed city rather than one that had to rely on floating above a lethal planet.

[@johnbergamini3567]

So exciting to see this manifesting! My father wrote "Venus Development Plan", which was about Terra forming Venus by blowing it into Earth orbit using nukes. ...Not really a very good idea, and not a very good book. Nonetheless, it got me dreaming about this project many years ago. Those dreams stand in my mind as corroborating evidence that your technological vision is about as good as we have so far.

[@niagaradrones]

These videos or something have helped that impediment and it's barely there and to those that have been here since day one, you sound like an angel.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

The videos and 'or something', I had enough people tell me I was improving from doing this that I decided to try speech therapy again a couple months back, progress is slow but steady.

[@lazaruslong697]

Progress may be slow, but as a person who have seen every single one of your videos at least thrice (and some of them far, far more times), i can safely say it is very noticeable, especially when i play some of the older vids right before a new video. I love this channel so much, thank you for all the amazing work!

[@bojantodorovic6841]

I actually like the way he speaks, he has a unique voice...i'm not a native speaker and i never had a problem understanding him.

[@lazaruslong697]

Bojan Todorovic: Same here, i love the way Isaac Arthur speaks, it is like a spa for my ears, really. But the progress is definitely there nonetheless. :)

[@SarabandeGreens]

John Roscoe I adore his voice. Have since day one. I remember the first vid I listened to, playing on speakers, and my wife asked me where I thought his accent was from, and I replied "I dunno but it's pretty awesome."

[@Komati]

Jebus, this video blew my mind in terms of. "We could create floating continents in the atmosphere in the skies above Venus, and change it's rotation period, and give it a moon."

[@JohnDoe-wq1fg]

I always love your videos, they are just awesome. Thanks for making this video about colonization of Venus, it was very interesting!

[@carlsagan1377]

GUYS HOLY CRAP THE JETSONS TAKES PLACE ON VENUS

[@spykezspykez7001]

Omg. It's Carl. How are you, bud?

[@nongpoknganbakhaidem7393]

First thing that struck me as well. Cheers.

[@ajhproductions2347]

Hahaha nice...still think UFOs are fake???

[@goodman25]

So the flintstones are burning below.

[@chrisgarcia6098]

God I needed this video. I'm stressed out about hurricane irma and I needed to get my mind off of things.

[@Apollorion]

If you do not wish to think about Irma: good luck with Harvey and Jose.

[@rockets-dont-makegood-toas7728]

So you went from thinking about a big hurricane to thinking about a city lots of miles high over the surface of a planet with temps to melt lead and pressures to crush a sub. good to know.

[@stefanr8232]

Hurricanes on Venus?

[@cluckeryduckery261]

Chris Garcia then I guess I really shouldn't bring up Jose or Katria... But in all seriousness, if you are in the path, please stay safe. I have a niece in Houston with her 2 year old son, these storms are no joke.

[@BustasGirl1]

Cluckery Duckery yes actually compared to other planets it is a joke

[@Zourkoskey]

Awesome!!! What a great video, so excited for the Titan video now!!! Thanks.

[@gammaechofoundationproductions]

I appreciated the Blade Runner reference, "Attack ships off the shoulder of Orion!" at 10:13! LOL!

[@fallfromgrave]

Floating city. We Bioshock now!

[@LeoN-wc9od]

I like the idea of uplifting the planets, it reminds me of Spore.

[@TheOneWithComments]

I'm glad we got an episode on Venus, I was beginning to think people were forgetting about it. Also I am so unbelievably excited to revisit ringworlds and artificial planets! Megastructures were what first got me hooked on this channel. Thanks for doing these videos

[@SacredCowStockyards]

Yay!!! First brand new video I watch. I love your channel.

[@liban1685]

"Epic quote" *music plays* YEAH BOI ITS ARTHURSDAY

[@MarkusJunnikkala]

Epic quote requires Epic music

[@urbanemordant4414]

Mr. Arthur, love your vids. Whenever I feel bleak about the future of humanity, I watch one of your videos. They really keep hope for the future alive.

[@eastofeden9487]

Is Mr. Arthur gradually turning more into a "discovery channel presents: Mars" type of documentarian? He handles the narrative aspect of it pretty well. There does seem to be a distinct shift away from the more objective view he did in the past towards a kind of .... what would the science equivalent of historical fiction be?

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

I think it depends on the material covered. When we're looking at specific futuristic settlements I sort of have to pick which technologies and pathways people picked to explore it, which means I'm kind of writing a story in my mind than converting that into a sort of documentary of it. Alternatively when exploring a specific technology or tech concept like androids or cyborgs or quantum computing there's no need for that kind of approach.

[@dasparado]

Never heard of you before, been watching your videos for hours. Well done man!

[@bocuma8712]

I really enjoy the videos where you frame the content with a narrative. It really makes the ideas presented come to life. Keep up the good work.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

It's interesting, some folks love the narrative episodes and others loathe them, so I try to limit myself to one a month.

[@bocuma8712]

A good comprimise, I'm sure.

[@dougbarlow1409]

Happy Arthursday everyone!

[@JodyBaxmeyerPresents]

Back atcha Doug. Do we get Arthursnog?

[@YnseSchaap]

Will there be cake ?

[@rush1er]

Speach Impediment?!? Um, by definition you are accusing Mr. Arthur of having a medical condition, deformity, or disfigurement that is... Impeding: the present participle of delaying, or obstructing Speach: the act of expressing or describing ones thoughts thru articulation of words. After analyzing said Speech one can deduce that Mr Arthurs articulation IS NOT impeding or obstructing an intelligent or coherent individual from understanding the topic at hand. The ONLY impediment is from one who has a TRUE obstruction such as brain damage, a form f ADD, or low intelligence. So whats the excuse for your impediment?

[@smorrow]

All lisps are speech impediments but not all speech impediments are lisps. Isaac Arthur has rhotacism.

[@rush1er]

Simon András Péter Deal with it.... he says deal with it. I do believe those of intelligence beyond the lot of browsers such as yourself.... who in all likelihood are proliferate in the study of Facebook Posts, superimposed Cat photos on instagram and your daily 3 hr session on bangbros.com, are able to engage in a debate with persons YOU consider impeded by their speech... With that said, with a clearly ignorant position, in which your stance on language comprehension is severely debilitated by those of an unfamiliar accent/dialect, how does one with a superior caliber on a plethora of scientific topics and theories participate in a debate with a colleague like.... hmmm... Steven Hawkins??? I mean, his voice synthesizer by your definition is a HUGE impediment on his speech.... so... how would you gave challenged Mr Einstein in a debate on E=mc2, when his accent would've "impeded" your conversation??

[@ALBOBLASTER]

Every video on your entire channel is awesome and super professional I'm loving all of it

[@Melkiyad]

Awesome vid as always! You wrapped it in a neat story which made it more believable :D great job!

[@kokofan50]

Isaac, your videos are so awesome that my flakey internet decided to start working, or at least that's what I would like to think.

[@Darker7]

Happy Athursday, everybody! :Ü™

[@patricklambethii9129]

Freakin' love your channel, Sir. Good work.

[@riggleyy]

Good job Kripke!

[@AnyOtherNamePlease]

I'm a massive fan - you should definitely write some hard scifi! Or make some merch - that stuff would sell out!

[@fmlazar]

Instead of using the words "Hard Sci-Fi" Your work would definitely be emblematic of Ursula LeGuin's preferred term... speculative fiction.

[@riverzin3186]

No need to terraform anything. Really? Soft tissued humans living away from Earth? I don't think so. The only way is to become immortal cyborgs. Travel time won't matter. Atmospheres won't matter as much etc etc. Upload your mind to a machine or some day the AI and I mean General AI will take over, take power away from humans on earth and explore the universe. Humans breathing oxygen, eating and shitting throughout the galaxy?!? WTF?!? I don't think so. Keep your human shit on earth. Borg River Zin, on behalf of the collective.

[@MJLeger-yj1ww]

Sure -- there's a fool born every minute that would buy it too!

[@ronschlorff7089]

I'm also a "massive" fan! That's why low gravity, anywhere, on planets, moons, space colonies, etc. appeals to me on a basic level :D

[@kelbybrewer2038]

@@MJLeger-yj1ww who the fuck shit in your open mouth?

[@radarphaser]

Doesn't it piss you off that we'll all be long dead before space exploration is a regular thing?

[@zigzagduck952]

YES! YES! YES!!! But hope for my little one and others after. nice cmnt.

[@spykezspykez7001]

Nope, I'm never going to be a part of it even if it were available tomorrow, current real life commitments, responsibilities etc... so I learn to be happy and grateful with what I have. No need to feel angry, pissed off or jealous. They are but self destructive emotions.

[@johnharvey5412]

I plan on living another 70 years, so maybe by then I'll have enough of my squishy meat parts replaced by durable materials to add another hundred.

[@selfishbeats]

:(

[@hedgehog3180]

swamidude Yeah but on the other hand we get to be hella cranky about how much harder it was back in our day. I'm planning on complaining so fucking hard on the future facebook and at future family gatherings that my grand kids will literally go deaf.

[@j.magdielnunez2555]

Genia! i like this too much!

[@jamesdavis9036]

This is downright fascinating!

[@Edenssunlight]

*Getting ready for hurricane..✔* *Have coffee & snack..✔* *Click PLAY on Issac's video..✔* *Smash the thumbs up..✔* once again Isaac thank you for another great upload.. your dedication and consistency not to mention the quality of your work is appreciated!

[@zigzagduck952]

sgt shill' best of luck mate.

[@keithwinget526]

"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep?" AKA "Blade Runner" reference checks out.

[@nostrum6410]

uplifting sounds extremely interesting, looking forward to it

[@bdmenne]

A-mazing quality through and through.

[@mheermance]

There's no way I would hang glide in the clouds of Venus. If you miss the landing you'll slowly glide to a crushing death.

[@marcusthisisnotmylastname4493]

I was thinking that instead of a parachute, people would carry an emergency balloon and a cylinder of compressed helium or hydrogen for inflation. Maybe tailored to reach equilibrium buoyancy at a safe level where easy rescue could be provided.

[@mr.knightthedetective7435]

Self driving gliders. Powered by solar energy so no refill 😛

[@IDNeon357]

Humans can acclimate to 100atm. With unknown long term effects

[@AndreaGarcia-ke3du]

@@IDNeon357 Google searched it, it's correct

[@1dgram]

Solar powered paraglider with inflatable balloon as your reserve (to be used in case of emergencies)

[@brennanshook7101]

YES I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS TOPIC! THANKS

[@KuraIthys]

Venus sounds like an oddly fun place to visit... Nothing like flying endlessly. XD

[@Jim54_]

I was waiting for someone to finally point out that colonising Venus is a far better option for humanity in the long term than colonising the small and distant desert planet Mars, so the sooner we start the better.

[@arseniitrifonov9015]

Arthursday! Gives me a reason to live!

[@rachidnabi9431]

Arthursday, every week a good reason to grab a nice snack and listen to a subject I love!

[@Phrenotopia]

Love your content, Isaac!

[@alister7541]

OH SNAP, Venus? Never thought we could. Mind blown.

[@thezebraherd8275]

Arthurs day in the middle of marketing class. Marketing the colonization of Venus most of the target market of customers will already be on mars

[@mostm8589]

I'm burning to see an episode on colonizing the Jupiter system and another one on the Oort cloud

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

We're a little undecided about the episode after Titan, I want to avoid repeating techniques where its just change of name and location. We will be doing a colonizing the sun episode though.

[@christosgiannopoulos828]

Isaac Arthur This could be the series finale, much like the orbital ring in the upward bound series Unless you make an episode on colonizing black holes or something

[@ShrapnelProductionHD]

Just recently found this channel. You're doing amazing work regardless of your speech impediment! Keep up the great content!

[@RichardAveryiii]

Best channel on KZbin. I'm obsessed.

[@lucythebrazen]

I was sooo looking forward to that video!

[@Jondiceful]

You could add that these floating habitats over Venus could employ large plasma windows so that landing craft passengers do not require acid-proof suits or breathing apparatuses when exiting their craft. The aircraft would pass through the window, but the window would seal the air inside. It could even be made into a plasma dome.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

It's an option, one I wish Id thought of.

[@javiermartinezvarious878]

Loud and clear all for Venus. I Will choose the huge space station avenue going clockwise,little by little to a small earth like moon.Since the time line goes against entropy and our "development" in scy fi put this option first. mining resources with skyhooks.safety first.no surprises.no City better a Zeppelin thats proven already.

[@edstoutenburg3990]

For those who have not heard yet-one of the Greats of Science fiction-and also involved in aerospace industry project research -Jerry Pournelle, passed away Friday (8th Sept). A Science &Futurist himself who co-authored several books w Larry Niven.Watching the Space Warfare episode here reminded me of his books. There is a Wiki page on him,and you should take a look at his 'chaos manor' page.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Yes it was very sad to hear, if not unexpected, there's a piece in the next episode on Ringworlds where I mention his collab with Niven on Mote, so I'm going to try to add in a quick memorial for him.

[@generaldilvry69]

I love the audacity of the human spirit this series makes clear...and ACHIEVABLE!!

[@ErwinSchrodinger64]

No... no... no... there is no way I would want to live in the upper atmosphere of Venus. I could only imagine the following on a cloud city on Venus. -Erwin: "Hey, Bobby! Throw me the ball. -Bobby: "OK Erwin." -Bobby: "Be careful Erwin, you're to close to the edge." -Erwin: "Oh noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Sometime later. -Bobby: "Erwin was a good man. Stupid, but a good man who loved baseball."

[@gumunduringigumundsson9344]

I do not think that they´d be playing much in the open air in the sulfuric acid clouds with out a jet suit and a host of robots that could rocket after you and catch you in seconds... :) still... ouch if they miss :P indeed.

[@fsmoura]

You're not a real man until you play robot-less acid baseball on a un-walled platform!

[@prismaticbeetle3194]

lol

[@Apollorion]

How about: two big balloons, attached on top of each other, of which the top balloon fully filled with molecular hydrogen and the bottom balloon filled (mostly) with an Earth-like atmosphere as well as a farm and a baseball stadium. Would you dare playing baseball in that stadium when the lights are on (powered by solar panels outside the balloon) and the balloon pair is floating in the upper atmosphere of Venus?

[@earnestbrown6524]

People would have life preservers. A vest that would inflate to make you neutrally buoyant with a rescue transmitter.

[@pixelprincess9]

Thank you for the birthday present, Isaac!

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Happy Birthday!

[@fordy929]

I have always been fascinated with the idea of colonizing venus.. mars is over rated :P Thank you for another awesome video!

[@sergiomayorga5188]

I truly appreciate critical thinking situations that this channel provides

[@valrond]

Very nice episode. These outward bound series is my favourite. Now, I have checked the number of subscribers, it's already at 141k!. A few episodes back we reached 100k, it is growing very fast :D

[@PingOnThis]

Isaac, I just wanted to thank you for introducing me to We are Legion (We are Bob). Binged it over the labor-day weekend.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Glad to hear it, the author hangs out on our facebook group and I've gotten acquainted with him, amusingly he started popping in after I decided to give his book a mention but before the episode doing so came out .

[@ArmouredSaint-fj8qf]

Hello Isaac! I've been looking forward to this installment since you announced it. I've been absolutely in love with the planet Venus since I was old enough to appreciate astronomy. I also want to say I am absolutely looking forward to your collaboration with John Michael Godier. I believe it will be an absolutely stellar episode. Thank you for everything you do, it truly brightens my day to see when you have posted new content.

[@seethegalaxy]

Such a great channel.

[@jasonyang6875]

So the colonization of Venus seems useful for a) terraforming of Venus or b) provide products for the terraforming of other celestial planets, otherwise it‘s just a "we do because we can" thing. Although the concept of a balloon colony (just the sort of active support building discussed earlier) is amazing, from my pessimistic point of view it might never happen. I'm always pessimistic about whether of civilization would be capable of a task like terraforming, the current social-political structure of humanity certainly wouldn't support such an endeavor that requires astronomical input of resources for a fairly long period with no short-term reward, and i doubt it ever will. Although people refers to ancient megastructures (Great Wall, pyramids, cathedrals)to prove human determination, these were all built in dedication to faith, will of dictators or eminent threat to their way of life, while modern civilization is becoming increasingly materialistic and democratic. I used to think the limitation of earth living space would be the ultimate motivation for terraforming, but the episode on arcologies and ecumenopolis on this channel proved that earth will not be overcrowded in the foreseeable future. We are mortal creatures whose eyesight limited by our lifespan, and if there can be no immediate profit from terraforming or space colonization, then these thing might never get started. The first wave of English colonists in North America (the Virginia Company) existed not in determination of “europaforming” the continent, but to make a profit(a task accomplished by importing slaves from Africa ). So if Venus cant provide such opportunities, it's hard to imagine it as a viable destination for colonization and terraforming, from the human nature aspect alone.

[@UchennaKema]

SpaceX launch and Issac what what

[@Wolfphototech]

*I've always been a fan of colonization of Venus.* *Right mass .* *Right amout of gravity .* *Has a atmosphere.* *The only issue is it is hot and acidic ( on / near the ground ).*

[@Nialyah]

I was just lately introduced to your videos by a friend and I love them! I'm so happy you covered exactly Venus, my favorite planet. Mars is fascinating too but Venus is really what I think is the go to planet. I learned a lot though and I see your points specifically about the problem with big sustainable colonies. Anyway I'd love to hear about the moons (Enceladus is my favorite), so the next video about Titan is going to be exciting! Thanks for making these great videos!

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Welcome to the channel! Titan should be a fun episode.

[@yaldabaoth2]

Could we speed up Venus' rotation by passing a law to limit movement of people in one direction?

[@bobbuilder7227]

brilliant lol

[@smorrow]

Would take a long time to get home...

[@SomeDude518]

Or fart in one direction..

[@belgenlogin]

at least they could walk in the shade

[@DigGil3]

what-if.xkcd.com/8/

[@TheTonyMcD]

Another fantastic episode! Arthur, you should write a sci-fi book. You obviously know your shit extremely well. And, even your videos have some intriguing story-lines.

[@anon-iraq2655]

great as usual

[@davecrupel2817]

Those Venusian Air colonies look absolutely _beautiful!_ 😍 So Elegant, Grand, and Eloquent in appearance.....

[@karenrobertsdottir4101]

As drawn, that's not a particularly practical form for one for a lot of structural issues (too topheavy, insufficient support for the "roof", the roof would be impractically heavy, etc), and while the idea of locally-produced hydrogen inflation of habitats sounds interesting, sulfuric acid just isn't dense enough to serve that purpose. A Landis habitat (where one lives inside the envelope, lofted by O2 + N2) is far more practical; nitrogen and oxygen are *vastly* more abundant, and you don't have to support the needless added mass of a separate inhabited area. But you're right that it would be an amazing place to live. The volume required for lift is massive; even for a small habitat for a dozen or so people, it's big enough that you could skydive indoors. Think rope bridges. Bungee jumping. Cable ascenders. Etc - an extreme sports paradise. In a large enough habitat, with a suitable design that minimizes obstructions, you could even fly aircraft inside. People's individual "dwellings" also need not be rigid in such an environment; hanging tents, like "glamping", would be a lightweight option to deploy (integrated solar for power, dehumidification-provided water supply, etc). Don't get along with someone? Hang your tent somewhere else; you don't have to be anywhere even remotely near them. By contrast, on Mars you're locked inside an inherently small pressure vessel with them - inherently small because pressure vessels are heavy. Whether we're talking on Earth or offplanet, to provide the food for a colony, you have to have a rather large amount of area in cultivation in comparison to the area taken up by peoples' "dwellings". But on Venus, space is as mentioned practically unlimited. So with all of the greenery around you, you're basically living inside a giant hanging garden. A veritable heaven, floating over hell. (Now to rain on the parade a bit: everyone draws Venus colonies drifting amongst stark clouds with the sun shining overhead, but in reality, clouds in Venus's middle cloud layer would look hazy at best, and you can't see the sun itself (at all); light, while bright, comes from all directions, only 20% brighter above you than below)