Interesting Orbits Throughout the Solar System

[JoeStrout]

OK, how about Venus?

Venus cloud cities are an intriguing possibility, but of course here we're talking about orbital cities around Venus.  Some quick stats:

• solar intensity: 1.9 times that at Earth
• gravity: 90% of Earth's
• atmosphere: mostly CO2, plus 3% nitrogen and small amounts of other stuff
• magnetic field: essentially none (except for a small induced field)
  

I'm not bothering to look up what the rocks are made of, because they're not only at the bottom of a deep gravity well, but also at the bottom of a thick, soupy atmosphere at over 800°F all the time (unlike Mercury, which cools off at night).  I consider them inaccessible, though who knows, people are clever — we'll probably find a way someday.  But let's assume not for now.

The atmosphere, however, could be skimmed off by a craft in an elliptical orbit, or perhaps even harvested by something dangling from a craft (or colony!) in low Venus orbit.  That would give you carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen — very handy stuff for building, breathing, and growing.

The lack of a magnetosphere means that even in low Venusian orbit, a colony would need as much shielding as one in free space.  (Though there is still that question of what benefits you get from being closer to the Sun.)

Since Venus has no moons, it doesn't have as many interesting orbits as Earth.  Basically it looks like a choice between low and high Venus orbit.  The low orbit would have cheaper access to the atmosphere, though probably higher orbital maintenance cost (that is, what you have to spend to reboost as the atmosphere slowly drags you down).  A high orbit would have the opposite.

But if anybody can think of anything I've overlooked here, speak now, or hold your peace until you think of it later!