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Venus Probe Mission Approved by Steering Committee
Anonymous Coward writes "Though often referred to as Earth's sister planet in terms of size and mass, Venus is now a totally different planet from Earth. Its temperature is high at 470C and atmospheric pressure at 100, and besides it has the characteristic atmosphere revolving at a very high speed (super rotation) and thick sulfuric acid clouds. Wrapping itself in an aura of mystery, Venus twinkles in the sky enticingly. At the Steering Committee for Space Science meeting held on May 10, the Venus probe mission was approved as an official ISAS project.
http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/new/release/2001/06_03.htm l"
Biomass. CO2 is converted, along with nitrogen and water, into biomass by plants. Thus, floating plants can thrive in a CO2 rich atmosphere.
That's why the terraforming wouldn't be so darn hard, you already have the plant food right there! You just gotta engineer and release 'em. I mean, I'm not saying it's EASY, but things about planets that are nearly impossible to change, like mass, venus has. Of course, it's rotational period of 243 earth days would suck for colonists, but if you've already gone through all the trouble to terraform a planet, you probably have the resources to create something to simulate the night/day change, such as giant strips of metal orbiting venus, etc.
There's no doubt that it would take hundreds of years to fully terraform venus, however most of the work could be done by biological agents rather than manmade machines, which should help signifigantly, and the final effect should be much better than what one can obtain with Mars.