Venus Archives

Comparison of Venus and Earth atmospheric profiles (left) and depth-equivalent Earth altitude versus Venus altitude (right). Data of Venus atmosphere taken from [21]; Earth atmosphere represented with Linsley’s model [17, 22]. The vertical green dashed lines at the left panel indicate the extremes of the “Habitable Zone” (HZ) of reference [23] (venusian altitudes in the range 42.8 km to 62.2 km). -- astro-ph.EP

Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report, Terraforming & Geoengineering, Venus

The Venusian Chronicles

by Keith CowingFebruary 23, 2025February 23, 2025

Venus’ atmosphere — specifically its clouds buoyed up 40 to 60 km above the surface — has long been suspected to encompass a biosphere where Earth-like living organisms could grow […]

Surface temperature (straddling 0◦C), total cloud cover (%), net outgoing thermal radiation (W m−2 ), and cloud water content (kg m−2 ) for four of the simulations listed in Table 1. Simulations are displayed from dry (Sim 01: Arid-Venus), semidry 10 m GEL (Sim 02: 10 m-Venus), Earth-like 310 m GEL (Sim 03: 310 m-Venus) and an aquaplanet (Sim 06). Sims 01–03 are 1 bar N2 dominated with 400ppmv CO2. Sim 06 is N2-dominated, but the only greenhouse gas is H2O following Wolf (2017). Cloud coverage is fairly low in Sims 01–02 as expected given limited surface reservoirs and cloud water content (rightmost column), and is much higher for Sims 03 and 06. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release, TRAPPIST-1, Venus

TRAPPIST-1 d: Exo-Venus, Exo-Earth or Exo-Dead?

by Keith CowingFebruary 10, 2025February 10, 2025

TRAPPIST-1 d is generally assumed to be at the boundary between a Venus-like world and an Earth-like world, although recently published works on TRAPPIST-1 b and c raise concerns that […]

SO2 mixing ratio at 70 km in the atmosphere of Venus as a function of latitude (Marcq et al. 2020). The red line represents a median value; the red bars show one statistical dispersion. The color pattern depicts % of observations. The data were obtained from the Venus Express SPICAV-UV observations (Table 16.1) -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report, Terraforming & Geoengineering, Venus

Sulfur on Venus: Atmospheric, Surface, and Interior Processes

by Keith CowingFebruary 5, 2025February 5, 2025

Sulfur-bearing species play critical roles in atmospheric physical-chemical processes, atmosphere-surface interactions, and the geological evolution of Venus. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of(1) Instrumental data on the abundance and […]

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report, Venus

The Punctuated Evolution of the Venusian Atmosphere From a Transition in Mantle Convective Style and Volcanic Outgassing

by Keith CowingJanuary 22, 2025January 22, 2025

A key question in the planetary sciences centers on the divergence between the sibling planets, Venus and Earth. Venus currently does not operate with plate tectonics, and its thick atmosphere […]

Artist’s impression of GJ 1214 b passing in front of its host star. The “transit method” allows astronomers to study an exoplanet by seeing which wavelengths of light dim when the star’s light passes through the exoplanet atmosphere. (Credit: NAOJ)

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Icy Worlds, Neptune, Press Release, Venus

Super-Earth vs. Sub-Neptune? The Winner is Super-Venus

by Keith CowingJanuary 20, 2025January 19, 2025

New observational data from the James Webb Space Telescope and simulation models have confirmed a new type of planet unlike anything found in the Solar System. This provides another piece […]

An artist's visualization of DAVINCI's descent probe lying on the surface of Venus. - NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Venus

DAVINCI Mission Seeks To Unlock Venus’ Hidden Secrets

by Keith CowingDecember 17, 2024December 17, 2024

NASA’s DAVINCI — Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging — mission embodies the spirit of innovation and exploration that its namesake, Leonardo da Vinci, was famous […]

With the device secured in the heater, the researchers will be able to test how well it works at extreme temperatures. Photo credit: Brenda Ahearn, Michigan Engineering.

Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Missions & Hardware, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Press Release, Tricorders & Sensors, Venus

Venus Mission Hardware? Battery-like Computer Memory Keeps Working Above 1000°F

by Keith CowingDecember 12, 2024December 12, 2024

Computer memory could one day withstand the blazing temperatures in fusion reactors, jet engines, geothermal wells and sweltering planets using a new solid-state memory device developed by a team of […]

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Reports, Roadmaps, & Plans, Status Report, Venus

A New Strategy for the Exploration of Venus

by Keith CowingDecember 11, 2024December 11, 2024

The 2023-2032 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey Origins, Worlds, and Life recommended that “NASA develop scientific exploration strategies, as it has for Mars, in areas of broad scientific importance, […]

A schematic illustrating the different planetary models under study. In both models, (A) and (B), the planet has a molten core that contributes negligibly to the tidally dissipated energy (this also stands if the core is differentiated into a solid inner and fluid outer parts). On top of the core lies a viscoelastic solid mantle which can be stratified and further divided into layers of uniform physical properties. Tidal dissipation in this mantle is computed in the solid tidal formalism using ALMA3 (Section 2.1). The solid mantle is enveloped by a fluid magma ocean of unperturbed uniform thickness H, which is the focus of our study. Under tidal forcing of the ocean and the mantle, the ocean’s bottom (top) is displaced vertically by ζ ↓ (ζ ↑ ). This forcing also leads to heating (by virtue of several dissipative mechanisms in reality, but mainly due to friction at the ocean-solid mantle interface, as shown in the sketch). The heating is counteracted by convective cooling. This molten layer can either be the outermost layer of the planet (A), or it can live under a solidified crust (B). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Status Report, Venus

Tides on Lava Worlds: Application to Close-in Exoplanets and the Early Earth-Moon System

by Keith CowingDecember 11, 2024December 11, 2024

Understanding the physics of planetary magma oceans has been the subject of growing efforts, in light of the increasing abundance of Solar system samples and extrasolar surveys. A rocky planet […]

This image was processed from archived Mariner 10 data by JPL engineer Kevin M. Gill.

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report, Venus

A Dry Venusian Interior Constrained By Atmospheric Chemistry

by Keith CowingDecember 9, 2024December 9, 2024

Venus’s climatic history provides powerful constraint on the location of the inner-edge of the liquid-water habitable zone. However, two very different histories of water on Venus have been proposed: one […]