The God Experiment

Chapter No. 85. Adjustment.

Chapter No. 85. Adjustment.

Janet was at her credit union job, James, Sylvia and Amy were showing Vincent and Sally how they create gems and jewelry for sale on the internet, and Sparky and Baby Jack were doing their thing. Robert was creating more additions to the house. He needed to make a few new bedrooms and baths.

His work was interrupted by a call from Jason at JPL. "We have an idea that might help terraform Venus," Jason said.

"Good," Robert replied. "I'll come there to discuss it with you."

He appeared at the JPL mission room where he found Jason and Kim Wu waiting.

"There's a comet that is currently passing through our section of the solar system. It's approximately twenty kilometers in diameter."

"Is it going to hit Earth?" Robert asked.

"No, but it will pass close enough to be easily seen with the naked eye. We were wondering if you could divert it to strike Venus."

Robert rubbed a hand through his hair. "Wouldn't that cause destruction?"

"If you could slow it just before collision it would add water to the planet," Kim said. "Comets are essentially dirty snowballs. They are comprised of mostly water combined with organics and rock."

"So, what you're saying is that it would add water to the surface."

"We think it would, but it won't be enough to terraform the planet. We were thinking that it would be a good experiment to see if it could be done. There are probably billions if not trillions of comets out in the Oort Cloud, more than enough to make Venus a water planet."

"What about the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere? Won't that cause the water to essentially evaporate?"

"Our observations indicate that the planet has already absorbed a lot of carbon dioxide and has begun to convert water in the atmosphere to oxygen. It's not enough to terraform but a good start."

"Well," Robert said. "I'll get my family together and we'll go see if we could do this."

After he vanished, Kim turned to Jason. "You realize that this is not a sanctioned NASA project."

"True, but It might end up as one if they're successful."

Kim nodded.

Robert assembled his troops to inform them about the new NASA mission. "What we're going to try to do is divert a large comet that's in our solar system and slow it so that it gently collides with Venus. What they want to know is if we could add water to Venus by that method."

"Wouldn't it take a large number of comets to add enough water to Venus to terraform it?" James asked.

"I believe it would. But there are lots of them out in the Oort Cloud."

"There's probably trillions of them out there," Sylvia said.

"Why do they want to terraform Venus?" Vincent asked.

"It would be a possible habitable planet in case Earth becomes uninhabitable," Robert replied.

"But it's closer to the Sun. Wouldn't that make it too hot?"

"There is the possibility that a shield could be placed in orbit to block sunlight."

"Why don't they do that with Earth?"

Robert smiled. "Humans would complain about something like that. There are no humans on Venus to complain."

"Very funny, Dad," James retorted.