Scientists have come to the conclusion that the surface of the planet is constantly being updated.
Venus is one of the least explored planets in the solar system, which is still fraught with many mysteries. Despite being called the “failed” Earth, Venus is very different. And her data on this planet is mostly based on observations from multiple orbiters. Due to the dense toxic atmosphere and the surface temperature of 475 degrees Celsius, ground vehicles did not last long there. Thanks to archival data from one of the orbiters, scientists were able to find out that the surface of Venus differs from current ideas and is also constantly updated, writes ScienceAlert.
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Venus differs from the Earth not only in its atmosphere and hellish conditions on the surface, but also the planet has a solid shell that is different from the earth’s – the lithosphere. On our planet, the lithosphere is not solid and consists of lithospheric plates, the movement of which changes the surface of the Earth. Also, these plates help the release of heat from the bowels of the planet. But Venus has a solid shell, so how the process of changing the surface, as well as cooling the planet, is a mystery.
Venus differs from the Earth not only in its atmosphere and hellish conditions on the surface, but also the planet has a solid shell that is different from the earth’s – the lithosphere
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Photo: wikipedia
But NASA scientists used archival data from the Magellan orbiter, which studied Venus decades ago, to conclude that the planet’s lithosphere is relatively “soft” and its surface is constantly being renewed. Also, scientists have found that the lithosphere of Venus may be thinner than scientists thought.
According to Suzanne Smrekar from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, scientists have studied special structures on the planet’s volcanic surface, called crowns, as well as depressions and hills surrounding them. It turned out that where the hills are closer to each other, the lithosphere of Venus is very thin and flexible. Scientists believe that the thickness of the solid layer here is only 11 km. And it is here that heat comes out of the bowels of the planet.
Venus is one of the least explored planets in the solar system, which is still fraught with many mysteries. Despite being called the “failed” Earth, Venus is very different. And her data on this planet is mostly based on observations from multiple orbiters. Due to the dense toxic atmosphere and the surface temperature of 475 degrees Celsius, ground vehicles did not last long there.
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Photo: NASA
“For a long time we believed that the lithosphere of Venus is very thick and no movement occurs here. Although there is no such movement of lithospheric plates as on Earth, these areas of thin lithosphere, apparently, allow a significant amount of heat to escape from the bowels of the planet,” Smrekar says.
As for the structures on the surface of Venus, which are called coronas, they are a bit like impact craters, scientists explain, and they can be hundreds of kilometers wide. Scientists now know that these crowns are volcanic in nature. They appeared as a result of the release of molten substance, which formed the original dome above the surface, and then after cooling this dome fell and formed a frozen ring, somewhat reminiscent of a crown.
As for the structures on the surface of Venus, which are called coronas, they are a bit like impact craters, scientists explain, and they can be hundreds of kilometers wide. Now scientists know that these crowns are volcanic in nature.
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Photo: NASA
According to Smerkar, 80% of the surface of Venus is volcanic rock. This means that there are processes on the planet that allow the internal substance of Venus to be outside. In the new study, the scientists suggested that this process of surface renewal not only happened in the recent past, but is happening now.
“The release of heat in the regions near the coronas indicates that geological activity on Venus continues, as magma seethes just below the surface at a shallow depth,” says Smerkar.
Scientists say the new VERITAS spacecraft, which will fly to the second planet from the Sun in 2027, will be able to learn much more about what is really happening on Venus.
“This mission will allow us to find out whether volcanic processes really make the lithosphere of Venus “soft” so that it can lose as much heat as the Earth. Or maybe there are processes completely unknown to us behind all this and Venus still keeps its secrets,” — says Smerkar.
As Focus already wrote, scientists believe that special attention should be paid to the study of Venus and not to abandon the idea that microbial life can exist here.
Focus also wrote that scientists found out why Venus did not become the same planet as the Earth, although this could happen, given the size and distance from the Sun of both planets.
As mentioned above, Venus is not such a well-studied planet, such as Mars. As Focus already wrote, scientists said that it is now impossible to detect signs of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet. And the reason is not that she is not here, because everything points to the opposite.
