Maintaining very small ecosystems

In a message dated 6/5/01 8:09:45 AM Eastern Daylight Time, rmenich@...
writes:

<< You indicate that terraforming is "certainly the ultimate goal". I
disagree, and I think that many other subscribers to ssi_list would as
well. Free-floating colonies will always enjoy a tremendous energy
advantage relative to colonies on the surface of another planet.

Ron Menich
>>

A terraformed planet is just another space colony relying on gravity to hold
in its atmospher rather than walls. A terraformed Venus would be very much
like a space colony as it would require a giant Parasol to block out sunlight
to cool it down and reflectors orbiting over the poles to produce day and
night. This is simular to the way other space colonies work. Take away to
parasol and reflectors and Venus will revert to an inhospitable condition.
The best planets to terraform are the ones that are close to Earth in size,
composition, daylength, and the amount of sunlight it receives. The most
optimal planets for terraforming are most likely planets orbiting other
stars. When the Earth was only 1 billion years old, it had an unbreathable
atmosphere and would have been an optimal candidate for terraforming, had
aliens happened along, I'm sure there are planets now orbiting other stars
that resemble the Earth as it existed back then. Basically all that would be
required would be an atmospheric conversion by oxygen producing plant life.
Space habitats would make very useful starships for getting to those planets.

Tom Kalbfus