[Space] Terraformed Venus as a setting

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

Yeah, but that's on a geological scale, right? Over the course of 10,000 years, it wouldn't really substantially change your atmosphere, right?

Or slower. For example *Venus* lacks a significant magnetic field, and has about 100 times as much atmosphere as Earth. It's sometimes credited with the low amount of water seen in the Venusian atmosphere, not because any significant amount of water can be carried away, but because it may have carried off a substantial number of hydrogen atoms from the outermost layer, though there are alternatives.

In any case, the mechanism is pretty simple. Lacking a magnetic field means the solar wind is absorbed in your upper atmosphere. This raises its temperature, and hence average velocity of its atoms, and the rate of Jeans escape is pretty sensitive to temperature.