Venus

From UNICOMP, the Universal Compendium

Venus is the second planet in the Sol System. Its atmosphere is mainly Carbon Dioxide. Although this can be converted using terraforming methods, the extreme pressure on the surface of the planet (90 times that of Earth) and the extreme temperatures (around 930°F) due to the greenhouse effect have made Venus to be considered "not worth it" for colonization. Despite this, an orbital base, Neith, does support a crew of 1200 and houses 4000 colonists.

Despite the near-impossible conditions on the surface itself, several efforts to penetrate the surface looking for resources have been attempted, although not all were successful. Those that did break the surface found high amounts of Solidinium, a rare mineral also found on the first planet in the Sol System, Mercury. This discovery prompted Alliance Scientists to theorize that Mercury was once a satellite of Venus. The size of the two planets may have caused heavy magnetic fields and gravity wells projected toward each other, and as such aided in the creation of the dense mineral found on both worlds. At some point, Mercury became too dense for the gravity of Venus to contain and the sun began to pull Mercury into the orbit it has now.

Scientists have also discovered what is now known as a Outflux Emission near the planet's south magnetic pole. To the naked eye, the emission looks as if the pole was punctured by a large needle and the atmosphere slowly is escaping into space. This is seen as a potential killing stroke to the planet. If the planet's gravitational field is weakening to the point of a leaking atmosphere, it will continue to weaken until the entire atmosphere is lost. The planet will likely be easier to harvest from once it reaches this state, although it may take several million years for the emission to fully take place.