Setting Inspiration: Venus

A while back, I gushed about how awesome the solar system is, and gave a very brief overview of details I've learned about each planet. However, I felt I needed to give some extra attention to one of the planet that most "wows" me: Venus. (There may be another post in the future about the ice giants, which are a close second).

The thing about Venus is how ferociously, cosmically, scorchingly inhospitable it is. I mean, all the not-Earth-or-Mars planets are pretty inhospitable, but Venus impresses me beyond the rest. Acid rain and metal snow, a molten surface that our probes can barely survive--it's fierce, man. I never thought much of it until I watched a planetarium show that demonstrated these aspects in blazing panoramic color.

Venus has a few interesting quirks. The sun rises in the west and sets in the east. It has no moons. The planet itself rotates slowly, but the atmosphere whips around at hurricane speeds.

A lot of old sci-fi speculated Venus to be more similar to Earth, inhabited by Venetians or at least plant life. War of the Worlds mentioned it, and I believe the Martians later invaded Venus after Earth. This was back when Venus was a mystery buried under dense cloud cover; once we were able to penetrate and discovered the lead-melting temperatures, gale force winds, and crushing pressures, that rather changed our perspective. However, it is speculated that in the distant past, Venus may have had water oceans and a much more Earth-like atmosphere.

Today, Venus is classically referred to as the greenhouse effect taken to its extreme. The temperature is hotter than the autoclaves we use to sterilize our surgical instruments. I mentioned the metal rain--according to that planetarium show, it's so hot that the metals sublimate in the valleys, then later precipitate in the cooler mountains. The majority of the atmosphere is carbon dioxide; there's a notable amount of sulfur dioxide, as well, which results in that sulfuric acid rain I mentioned.

One of these days, I really want to write a planet like this as a sci-fi setting. Perhaps it's the location of a secret facility, specially engineered to withstand the elements. But I think even more interesting would be how a society might develop and thrive here. They could certainly harness the heat and winds for power. How would daily life work? What kind of professions would there be? I'm picturing humans or humanoids contained within far-future super-durable habitats or stations. Then perhaps there are some wild, native creatures that walk and fly, and just imagine how terrifying they could be! I'm very excited for this, and waiting for the right plot and characters to combine with it.

For reliable (and gorgeously organized) information on any planet, including pictures, naturally have a look at the NASA page.