Steampunk Mars/ Cold War crossover

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

But there are amateur astronomer groups that routinely observe Venus (and other planets) in the UV and IR as well as visible light. For the professionals, ESA's Venus Express is still in orbit and operational (I think; it was last summer), Japan has Atasuki in orbit (after some travails), and it would notice a change in the atmosphere, as that's its main object of study.

You seem to be thinking about _current_ activities in re Venus. I was working from the suggested change date of 1973. There was nothing orbiting Venus in 1973.

Well, nothing of ours anyway. A Steampunk Venus could have (and use) a moon. Something dark and small (but probably dense) to help stabilize things and reduce the solar tidal drag problem.