The image is called "VenusNewlyProcessed View."
Venus is Earth's doppleganger.
JPL-Caltech is a part of NASA.
A new study adds to a growing pile of evidence that Venus may be volcanically active, a finding that would help explain how volcanoes impact planetary evolution and habitability across the cosmos. Excited about future missions to Earth's nearest neighbor that will settle the matter once and for all is the result of the research that focuses on strange signals coming from a Venusian volcano called Idunn Mons.
It has been known for a long time that Venus is covered in volcanic activity. Venus has a thick and hazy atmosphere that obscures anything happening on the ground.
A team of scientists is making the case that the 1.5 mile high, 125 mile wide Idunn Mons has been active within the past few thousand years, and is likely still erupting today. Within the next decade, a small squadron of missions capable of detecting volcanic activity on the surface will begin their journeys to Venus.
The branch chief of the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Research Office at NASA Johnson Space Center, and co-author of the study published last month in The Planetary Science Journal, says that he doesn't think anyone would be surprised.
Confirmation of suspicion would have major implications. Venus is an arid wasteland with a dense, acid-laden atmosphere and a surface that is hot enough to melt lead. The volcanic eruptions that started climate change are the leading explanation for Venus's transformation. Studying Venus's volcanoes up close will help us understand why Earth has not had a similar eruptive apocalypse. If you can observe volcanoes in action, they are a lot easier to comprehend.
There is no chance of active volcanism on Venus.
There are several indirect clues that there is volcanism on Venus. The high concentration of sulfur dioxide in Venus's atmosphere makes sense if volcanoes are still belching it out. The surface of Venus has some of the most active volcanic activity on Earth, as well as cauldron-like volcanic features which are sometimes shaped in a way that suggests they are being transformed by underlying heat. It would be weird if Venus was volcanically dead. Venus is the same size as Earth. Lauren Jozwiak is a planetary volcanologist at the University Applied Physical Laboratory.
The new study shows that the magmatic heart of Idunn Mons is still beating.
The lava flow deposits that were found at Idunn Mons were found by the Venus Expresser. The volcanic minerals are quickly eaten up by Venus. The lavas that had erupted as recently as 250,000 years ago were thought to be represented by these intense thermal emissions. The lavas may have erupted within the last 1,000 years, according to recent experimental work, which suggests volcanic minerals were baked under Venusian atmospheric conditions and degraded faster than previously thought. The winds are being disrupted more than expected at Idunn Mons. The authors suggest that turbulence may be caused by heat from molten rocks.
The study is really compelling case work, says Jozwiak, who wasn't involved with it. Future missions to Venus, including NASA's VERITAS and DAVINCI+ missions, and Europe's EnVision probe, which are slated to launch toward the end of this decade, will be the ones to confirm its suspicions.
A state-of-the-art radar system will be able to identify fresh lava, thanks to the Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy mission. The same areas will be mapped multiple times by it. If a lava flow pops up that wasn't there when Magellan visited Venus, VERITAS will find it. During its tenure around the planet, NASA may spot new lava flows. Young lava flows that are still emitting heat will be easy to spot thanks to the VERITAS camera.
Three future missions will uncover the answer.
Europe's EnVision will conduct surgical scientific strikes while VERITAS will study giant patches of the planet. Its radar system will look for signs of volcanic or tectonic terraforming on the ground, and it will also look for strange chemical concoctions in the sky. If the mission focuses on a volcano that is emitting lava or noxious gases, or a volcano that is quiet, it will know.
DAVINCI+ is going to drop a probe through Venus's atmosphere that will document its chemistry as it plunges to its death on the surface. Scientists working with VERITAS and EnVision will be able to more easily identify spikes in the concentrations of volcanic gases with DAVINCI+ providing a profile of the volcanic gases present at that moment in time.
It is a formality for planetary scientists to confirm that Venus is volcanically active. If it wasn't, it would be truly astonishing, says Richard Ghail, EnVision's lead scientist. Paul is a planetary scientist at Washington University. There is no chance of active volcanism on Venus.
The exciting thing about future missions to Venus is what they will be able to tell us about how active it is. Is it like Earth, where eruptions occur every day, or like Mars, a volcanically comatose world where giant cascades of molten rock might flood the surface every few million years? Some think Venus will erupt to its own beat, while others think it will be closer to our planet. The three future missions will uncover the answer, ending decades of volcanic speculation.
Once all of these missions get there, we will be writing brand new textbooks about Venus. It will change how we think about planetary evolution.
