Message-ID: <waOTQXi00VcJAEAU5v@andrew.cmu.edu>
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From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU
To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU
Date: Mon,  4 Jun 1990 01:52:36 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #487

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 11 : Issue 487

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Today's Topics:
  Re: US/Soviet Planetary Activity (was Re: Manned mission to Venus)
	  Re: mars vs. venus, which is easier to terraform?
		       Re: HAWAII AND STAR WARS
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Date: 4 Jun 90 02:06:52 GMT
From: clyde.concordia.ca!mcgill-vision!quiche!calvin!msdos@uunet.uu.net  (Mark SOKOLOWSKI)
Subject: Re: US/Soviet Planetary Activity (was Re: Manned mission to Venus)

In article <1990May30.021509.8566@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes:
>Why don't *you* do something about it?  You're the one who's excited about
>Venus.  I can think of plenty of things that should have higher priority,
>like resuming the exploration of the Moon.

Sorry, I find the Moon terribly boring and unexciting since men have been
there.

Mark S.
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Date: 3 Jun 90 08:04:59 GMT
From: cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: mars vs. venus, which is easier to terraform?

In article <996@unicorn.WWU.EDU> n8740929@unicorn.WWU.EDU (Michael Kinsella) writes:
>Which do you expect to be easier to terraform, mars or venus?

Actually, both are now looking difficult.  Mars does not have enough
atmosphere, and speculations that there might be adequate gas frozen
out in permafrost are now looking optimistic.  Venus has way too much
atmosphere and there is no easy way to get rid of it.  Mars still seems
easier to me -- it is *really* hard to get Venus habitable -- but neither
is a picnic.

I recently saw a very interesting proposal:  drop a small black hole into
Jupiter, "stellifying" it, and warm up the Galilean satellites.  Given a
suitable black hole and a way of moving it, it looks workable...
-- 
As a user I'll take speed over|     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
features any day. -A.Tanenbaum| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu

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Date: 2 Jun 90 12:52:02 GMT
From: decvax.dec.com!jfcl.dec.com!imokay.dec.com!borsom@mcnc.org  (Doug Borsom)
Subject: Re: HAWAII AND STAR WARS

In article <1990May30.235052.8622@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes:

>(Other posters have already dealt fairly well with the pseudo-ecological
>hysteria composing much of the rest of the message.  If you want to see
>a thriving wildlife refuge, visit the Cape sometime.)

The first sentence is not true.  The second sentence is indicative
of the over-simplification and argument-by-false-analogy 
characterizing the postings to date.

Maybe posters have convinced themselves and others already leaning
in their direction, but neither side has presented convincing
arguments.

The fact (if true) that Cape Kennedy includes a thriving wildlife
refuge is irrelevant to the Hawaii question unless the two
eco-systems are very similar and the proposed use (in the largest
sense of the word) of the Big Island site is very similar to the use 
at the Cape.  Neither of these similarities has been established.

So far, most postings on both sides have dealt with the assesment 
of the ecological impact with the kind of simplicity that ...
well, let's say that Carl Sagan has been accused of in writing
his Sunday Supplement articles about subjects far outside his area 
expertise.

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End of SPACE Digest V11 #487
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