The recreation of Venus, as currently envisioned, has three primary aspects: The use of biologics to induce long-term changes in the chemicial balances of the Venusian environment, the importation of elements not present in the existing environment or needed to fix those which are into their desired forms, and the use of a planet-wide network of space-time alteration devices to modify the world's rotation into an acceptable day-night cycle.
Conceptually, a Castle is a tethered rigid balloon of uprecidented scale, capable of supporting a 'rotation generator' and all associated equipment and personnel at an altitude in the Venusian atmosphere where conditions approximate those found on Earth. While the existing design combines functions to serve all three aspects of the terraforming project, future types currently on the drawing boards are all more limited, there being no need for more than a certain number of bioengineering labs.
The six 'Core Castles', once completed, will be Magellan, Mariner, Pioneer, Venera, Vega, and Zond. They are being built using self-perpetuating 'dome plants' seeded in a spiral on the surface of Luna near Moonbase Alpha, so that, when the plants' growth is halted, the resulting enclosure includes a series of linked pressure chambers like those of the shell of a
chambered nautilus. After the pressure domes have grown to the desired sizes, their linked facets are cut away and replaced with iris-type sealable doors, while their outer surfaces are coated in a form of 'smart paint' and the underlying regolith is excavated to leave room for the tether reel, power generators, field modules, storage cells, and chemical plants which the Castles are built to support. Once its niche is finished, an alteration engine is installed and used to shear the Castle free from its parent rock and propel it first into space, then to a soft planetfall on Earth for the installation of the rest of its permanent equipment.
Finally, the Castle is moved again and deploys its tether for anchoring to a chosen point on the Venusian surface. Once in place, power for continuing operations is provided by conventional steam turbines heated by the tether's high-conductivity core - and, indirectly, the environment of the surface itself - and the Castle can be declared operational as the landscaping of its interior begins.
Magellan was the first Castle to be completed, and, as it was intended from the beginning to serve as the headquarters of the Terraforming Project, is nearly twenty-five percent larger than its siblings and, at slightly more than 2,500 meters in diameter, the largest mobile construct yet produced by human hands.
I should probably go into more detail about the whole 'change the rotation' thing, but I'm kinda burned out at the moment. I'll likely come back to it later.
Ja, -n
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"Puripuri puripuri...
Bang!"