Sky People

Chapter One Encyclopedia Britannica, 16th Edition University of Chicago Press, 1988 Venus: Parameters Orbit: 0.723 AU Orbital period: 224.7 days Rotation: 30hrs. 6mins. (retrograde) Mass: 0.815 Earth Average density: 5.2 g/cc Surface gravity: 0.91 Earth Diameter: 7,520 miles (equatorial; 94.7% Earth) Surface: land 20%, water 80% Atmospheric composition: Nitrogen 76.2% Oxygen 22.7% Carbon dioxide 0.088% Trace Elements: Argon, Neon, Helium, Krypton, Hydrogen Atmospheric Pressure: 17.7 psi average at sea level Venus differs from Earth, its sister planet, primarily in its slightly smaller size and slightly lower average density, as well as the lack of a moon or satellite, and its retrograde (clockwise) rotation. The composition of the atmosphere is closely similar to that of Earth, the main differences being the higher percentage of oxygen and the somewhat greater mass and density of the atmosphere as a whole. Average temperatures on Venus are roughly 10 degrees Celsius higher than those on Earth, due to greater solar energy input, moderated by the reflective properties of the high cloud layer; isotope analysis suggests that these temperatures are similar to those on Earth in the Upper Cretaceous period, at which time Earth, like Venus today, had no polar ice caps. Most of Venus' land area of approximately 40,000,000 sq. miles is concentrated in the Arctic supercontinent of Gagarin, roughly the size of Eurasia, and the Antarctic continent of Lobachevsky, approximately the size of Africa. Chains of islands constitute most of the remaining land surface, ranging in size from tiny atolls to nearly half a million square miles . . . Venus, Gagarin ContinentJamestown Extraterritorial Zone 1988 Unnnngg-OOOK! One of the ceratopsians in the spaceport draught team raised its beaked, bony head and bellowed, stunningly loud, as the team was led around to be hitched to the newly arrived rocket-plane. The supersonic crack of the upper stage's first pass over the dirt runways at high altitude had spooked them a little, but they were used to the size and heat of the orbiters by now. Some of the new arrivals from Earth filing carefully down the gangway from the rocket-plane's passenger door started at the cry. When one of the giant reptiles cut loose it sounded a little like the world's largest parrot; the beasts were massive six-ton quadrupeds with columnar legs, eight feet at the shoulder and higher at their hips, twenty-five feet long from snout to the tip of the thick tail, and they had lungs and vocal cords to match their size. The long purple tongue within the beak worked as the beast called, and it shook its shieldthe massive bony plate that sheathed its head and flared out behind to cover the neck. The shield was a deep bluish-gray, the pebbled hide green-brown above, with a stripe of yellow along each flank marking off the finer cream-colored skin of the belly. Then it added the rank, musky scent of a massive dinosaurian dung-dump to the scorched ceramic odor of the orbital lander's heat-shield. Welcome to Venus, Marc Vitrac thought, as the score or so of new base personnel and the six spaceship crew gathered at the foot of the ladder. I'm glad it waited until the harness was hitched. That could have landed on my feet if it had happened while we were getting things fastened. He switched his heavy rifle so that it rested in the crook of his left armit was a scope-sighted bolt-aStirling, S. M. is the author of 'Sky People ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780765353764 and ISBN 0765353768.