It’s not for nothing that Venus received the nickname “Earth’s evil twin”: hot, dehydrated, covered in toxic clouds. But just one or two billion years ago, the two sisters may have been more similar. New computer simulations suggest that early Venus closely resembled our home planet and may even have been habitable.
“One of the biggest mysteries of Venus is how it happened that it is so different from Earth. The question gets even more interesting when, from an astrobiological perspective, you consider the possibility that Venus and Earth were very similar during the early days of life on Earth,” says David Grinspoon of the US Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona.
Grinspoon and his colleagues were not the first to suggest that Venus was once habitable. It is similar to Earth in size and density, and there is no escaping the fact that the two planets formed close to each other, suggesting they are made from similar materials. Venus also has an unusually high ratio of deuterium to hydrogen atoms, a sign that it once had significant amounts of water that mysteriously disappeared over time.
Artistic depiction of the climate of modern Venus. Credit: Deviantart/Tr1umph
To simulate early Venus, the researchers turned to an environmental model used to study climate change on Earth. They created four scenarios that differed slightly in details, such as the amount of energy received from the Sun or the length of the Venusian day. Where information about Venus's climate was sparse, the team filled in the gaps with educated guesses. They also added a shallow ocean (10% of Earth's ocean volume), covering about 60 percent of the planet's surface.
By looking at the development of each version over time, the researchers suggested that the planet may have looked like early Earth, and been habitable for a significant period. The most promising of the four scenarios was a model with moderate temperatures, thick clouds and light snowfall.
Could life have appeared on early Venus? If this did not happen, the culprit is the subsequent boiling of the oceans and volcanoes, which dramatically changed the landscape about 715 million years ago. But still, the team did not exclude the possibility of life developing in ancient times on the second planet in the solar system.
“Both planets likely enjoyed warm oceans of water combined with rocky shores and organic molecules undergoing chemical evolution in these oceans. As far as we understand, these are the requirements for theories of the origin of life today,” says David Grinspoon.
To strengthen these findings, future missions to Venus should focus on signs of water-related erosion, which would provide evidence of past oceans. Such signs have already been discovered on Mars. NASA is currently considering two potential projects to explore Venus, although neither has been approved yet.
Venus is a planet in the solar system (second after Mercury, hereinafter referred to as Earth), named after the Roman goddess of beauty and love. It is one of the brightest space objects along with the Earth and the Moon. This planet, of course, did not go unnoticed by scientists, who at one time thought about the questions: is life possible on Venus? This topic interests many astronomy enthusiasts. So, what are the conditions for survival on Venus?
Brief information about Venus
There is probably no person who does not know what Venus is. This planet is the sixth largest among all other planets. The distance to Venus from the Sun is more than 108 million kilometers. Its air mainly contains gases: carbon dioxide and nitrogen, while on Earth there is the most oxygen, which allows living organisms to exist. Also on Venus, the clouds are composed of sulfuric acid (namely, sulfur dioxide), which makes the surface difficult to see with the normal human eye, meaning it becomes invisible. The average temperature on Venus is much higher than on Earth: 460 degrees Celsius, while on Earth it is only 14 degrees Celsius. That is, Venus can compete and even surpass the hottest desert of our planet in temperature. It should be noted that the dense air shell of Venus creates a strong greenhouse effect, which causes the temperature to rise due to thermal energy generated as a result of heating gases.
The first attempts to explore Venus
Soviet scientists, having assessed the advantages of the planet Venus over other cosmic bodies (for example, Mars, which US astronomers were seriously interested in), decided to take up its exploration. Already in February 1961, the Venus program was created, according to which it was planned to send spacecraft to the planet to survey the entire surface. The program existed for twenty long years.
First flight
The atmosphere of Venus was first discovered in 1761 by the famous Russian naturalist Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov. As mentioned earlier, Soviet scientists became interested in this mysterious planet already in 1961. They made many attempts (namely, about 10) to send spaceships there in order to determine the conditions for life. They explored both the surface of the planet and its surroundings. However, scientists have not been able to find out reliable facts about temperature and pressure on Venus. What flights to Venus have been carried out?
Soviet scientists launched the first automatic interplanetary station to the planet on February 8, 1961, but they failed to achieve the goal: the upper stage did not turn on. The second attempt to launch a spacecraft called Venera 1 was a great success, and on February 12, 1961, it set course for Venus. After spending more than 3 months in space, the interplanetary station lost contact with the hot planet on February 17. According to scientists' guesses, it flew one hundred thousand kilometers from Venus on May 19. The launches of spacecraft to Venus did not stop there. On August 8, 1962, Mariner 2, launched by NASA, went into space. On December 14 of the same year, he successfully circled the entire planet. Everything took 110 days from the moment the ship was launched. Finally, a spacecraft called ESA Venus Express was launched on November 9, 2005. It took him 153 days to reach the planet. This was the last flight to Venus.
How long does it take to fly to Venus?
The distance to Venus, counting from Earth, ranges from 38 to 261 million kilometers. The time it takes to fly depends on the speed of the spacecraft and the trajectory along which it moves. Consequently, no one can give an exact answer to the question of how long it is to fly to Venus. As mentioned earlier, several spacecraft were launched towards the planet, and each of them took a different amount of time to reach the surface of Venus (Mariner 2 - 110 days, Venus Express - 153 days).
Terraforming Venus
This is a change in climate, environmental conditions of the planet (temperature, air composition) so much as to turn it into a place suitable for living organisms.
For the first time, Soviet scientists became seriously interested in terraforming this hot planet. They developed many ideas and made several attempts to study Venus, both its surface and its surroundings. Working for 20 years, scientists learned many facts about this planet (for example, what Venus really is and what conditions are on it), which destroyed all their plans for the possibility of human exploration of this planet. No attempt is being made at this time. It is unknown whether it will be possible in the future to terraform Venus in 200-300 years.
Methods
Below are methods on how to terraform Venus:
- Reducing the Venusian day (117 Earth days) by bombarding the planet with asteroids, which, moreover, will fill Venus with water. For this, according to futurologists, water-ammonia asteroids from the Kuiper belt can be used (comets can also be useful).
- By synthesizing water from atmospheric and carbon dioxide, it is also possible to solve the problem of Venusian drought and provide the planet with water resources.
- An ice block with a diameter of 600 kilometers must fall on Venus to spin the planet and artificially irrigate it with water.
- Water bombardment can dilute the dangerous sulfur clouds that envelop the entire planet. Such an installation will turn the acid into a salt, while also releasing hydrogen. However, solving one problem entails another. The raised clouds of dust will definitely cause a nuclear winter on Venus. Therefore, you need to be prepared for anything.
- Since the temperature on the surface of the planet is 4-5 times higher than the boiling point of water, Venus must first be cooled. This can be achieved by placing colossal screens between the sun and Venus at the Lagrange point (between two massive bodies), where an object with negligible mass can be located without experiencing any influence from these bodies other than gravitational ones. But this equilibrium is very unstable, so the location of the screens must be constantly changed.
- The planet's temperature can be lowered by turning part of the atmosphere into dry ice - solid carbon dioxide.
- Introducing algae (chlorella, cyanobacteria) onto the planet, which absorb carbon dioxide, produce oxygen and reduce the greenhouse effect, could also help cool Venus and lower atmospheric pressure. The American scientist Carl Sagan was interested in this.
Why do they think about this?
Terraforming Venus is attractive in the following ways:
- Venus is not far from Earth, although it is closer to the sun.
- Venus has characteristics close to those of Earth (mass, diameter, gravitational acceleration), which is why it is also called Earth’s twin sister.
- Solar energy on a hot planet is also a positive boon for its terraforming, as it can improve energy development.
- Venus is believed to have a lot of solids, such as uranium, which are useful resources.
Current conditions on the planet
- Venus's temperature is 460 degrees Celsius, making it the hottest planet in the solar system.
- The surface pressure is 93 atmospheres.
- The gas composition of the planet: 96% is carbon dioxide, the remaining 4% is nitrogen, carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO 2), oxygen and water vapor.
Why is it difficult for modern man to survive on Venus?
Despite possible attempts to create the necessary conditions for living organisms to live on Venus, humans will practically not be able to live there. This is due to several reasons:
- Very high surface temperature of Venus (about +460 degrees Celsius). Having become accustomed to the temperature of the Earth (+14 degrees), a person will simply burn out.
- The pressure on Venus is about 93 atmospheres, while on Earth the atmospheric pressure at sea level is usually taken as only 1 atmosphere (or, as meteorologists say, 760 mm Hg).
- On Venus, a person will have nothing to breathe. Unlike Earth, which is rich in oxygen, Venus is rich in carbon dioxide and nitrogen, which the human lungs cannot handle.
- On a hot planet there is practically no water necessary for the human body. However, it can be delivered there artificially.
- Venus rotates in the opposite direction compared to the Earth, so day and night are not the usual 24 hours, but 58.5 Earth days, which is very inconvenient.
- Since Venus is much closer to the Sun than the Earth, the radiation level is increased. And as you know, it can cause cancer and other dangerous fatal diseases in humans.
What Venus should be like after terraforming
A planet suitable for living organisms must have a warm climate with normal humidity. It should also have an average temperature of about twice the average temperature of the Earth, which is about 26 degrees Celsius. The change of day and night coincides with the earth's: 24 hours - 1 day. Water-ammonia comets and asteroids should supply the planet with water. It is planned to use nanorobots that convert carbon dioxide and other toxic substances and replace them with oxygen, which is more necessary for the respiration of living organisms.
Settlement on Venusian clouds
The plan to terraform Venus never achieved the expected results and was cancelled. However, scientists were inspired by another idea: is it possible to master the clouds of Venus if living organisms cannot survive on its surface? The clouds, about 10 kilometers thick, are located at an altitude of 60 kilometers from the surface of the planet. Scientists launched the Venera-4 apparatus, which discovered that the temperature on the cloud layer is -25 degrees Celsius, which is quite acceptable for the human body: you can at least dress warmly, while temperatures of more than 400 degrees will not save anything. Moreover, the pressure on the clouds of Venus is approximately the same as on Earth, and ice crystals may well serve as sources of water. Only to obtain oxygen you will need a special mask with a unit for chemically supplying the body with gas for breathing. True, there is no solid surface on the Venusian cloud layer, which can cause minor inconvenience. It was even planned to create drifting airship stations for the first settlers on Venus. One of the magazines even published an approximate photo of such a device. It was presented in the form of a huge platform with a spherical transparent multilayer shell.
Unfortunately, this idea never found its application. The reason for this was the following: scientists sent a couple more spacecraft to Venus, which discovered a large number of electrical discharges in the cloud layer of the planet - more than a thousand lightning bolts pierced the atmosphere at the time when Venera-12 attempted to land. After some time, another reason for the impossibility of developing Venusian clouds was discovered: very strong winds that could instantly destroy a drifting airship. After this, several more stations were sent, thanks to which scientists were able to obtain more information about Venus. These data convinced them that the exploration of a hot planet was beyond the power of humans. As a result, terraforming attempts were abandoned, so the possibility of life on Venus was rejected.
Guest article
The conquest of other planets is a universal dream of humanity, which will definitely come true someday. The first mission to Mars is not so far away, technological progress is developing at a tremendous pace - everything suggests that in the future we will be able to call more than just planet Earth home. Perhaps Venus will also be included in the list of places where we will be able to live in hundreds or thousands of years. Let's find out if life is possible on Venus.
This question should be divided into two:
- Is life on Venus possible for humans?
- Is there, in principle, something living there - life as the very fact of the existence of living organisms.
Opportunities for a person
Authoritative research by scientists suggests that this planet is not suitable for us. Several factors prevent the repetition of the earthly form of existence on Venus: high temperatures (sufficient to melt lead), greenhouse effects, and high volcanic activity. For us there are no conditions either for actual survival or for maintaining a full-fledged habitual way of life. The territory of the planet consists of numerous volcanoes, drops and even rivers of lava, which in itself already looks frightening. The air temperature reaches about 465 degrees Celsius. If you fantasize and assume that a person could survive at such a temperature, we can note three more interesting facts:
- Enormous pressure. While on Venus, a person would experience the same pressure as diving more than 910 meters underwater. This again brings us back to the fact that such conditions are not suitable for survival.
- Difficulty in movement. The atmosphere on the planet is thick, which would cause movement to be slow and heavy - as if you were moving in water.
- Lack of water. Water is one of the most necessary substances for life on Earth. Let us remember that the human body is on average 70% water, and you can die from dehydration even within a few days, maximum within two weeks.
All of the listed features of life on Venus tell us that a person cannot live on it without additional preparation. To conquer this planet, we need special technologies that will create conditions close to life on Earth, as well as eliminate a lot of negative factors. At the moment, humanity does not have such resources, and therefore the prospect of conquering Venus can only be considered as a fantastic idea. However, this does not mean that suitable technologies will not appear in the future.
Is there any life on Venus?
Everything concerning life on Venus today is published and considered only within the framework of hypotheses. There is not a single proven fact of the existence of life or a really refuted theory. Scientists suggest that a microbial form of life may exist in the clouds of Venus - and it will be different from everything known to us, since it is forced to exist in radically different conditions.
There are suggestions that life on Venus may be concentrated under the surface of the crust. And in 2012, Professor Xanfomality, studying photographs from the Soviet period using new high-tech methods, suggested that there is also life on the surface of the planet. This hypothesis caused a lot of discussion in the scientific community - it had both supporters and opponents.
One thing is clear: we do not yet have the opportunity to reliably confirm or refute the assumption that there is life on Venus. As for the settlement of this planet by humans, this is possible in a very distant future, which is still beyond the bounds of common sense and our reality.
Life appears to have been found on Venus. Or something very similar to it, moving, changing shape. Unique footage of Venusian “residents” under the code names “bird”, “disc”, “scorpion” were taken in the 70-80s of the last century by the Soviet devices “Venera-9” and “Venera-13”! And only 30 years later they were declassified by the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as if giving themselves such an original gift for their 50th anniversary. MK learned about the strange findings from Leonid Ksanfomality, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics from the IKI RAS, the author of the decoding of footage from Venus.
“We do not like the interpretation of these results as signs of life on the planet. However, we cannot find another explanation for what we see in the panoramas of the surface of Venus,” this is how one of its two authors, Candidate of Sciences Yuri Gektin, formulated the topic of the television experiment on the Venus spacecraft back in 1982. But then, in the 80s, alas, that’s how it all ended with Ksanfomality’s article in the Astronomical Bulletin. The scientific community firmly stood its ground: at +500 Celsius and a pressure of 87–90 atmospheres, life cannot exist. Everything that refuted this dogma was considered unscientific and had no right to exist. And work on deciphering the first films from Venus was sent to the very box.
I wouldn’t say that we have given up,” says Xanfomality. - We turned to old data again and again as processing tools improved. And the most significant discoveries were made two or three years ago.
- Well, finally, tell us about these “objects”.
The earliest discoveries began to come from Venera 9, which landed on the planet of the same name, in 1975. In the very first panorama transmitted by the device, the attention of several groups of experimenters was attracted by a symmetrical object resembling a sitting bird with an outstretched tail. Geologists cautiously called it “a strange rock with a rod-like protrusion and a lumpy surface.” “The Stone” was discussed in the final collection of articles “The First Panoramas of the Surface of Venus” edited by Mstislav Keldysh and in a weighty volume of the international publication “VENUS”. He became interested in me on October 22, 1975 - immediately, as soon as the tape with the panorama crawled out of the bulky phototelegraph apparatus at the Evpatoria Center for Deep Space Communications. The strange “bird” object was symmetrical relative to the longitudinal axis, its entire surface was covered with strange growths, and some kind of symmetry could also be seen in their position. To the left of the object protruded a long straight white process, under which a deep shadow was visible, repeating its shape. The white appendage is very similar to a straight tail. On the opposite side, the object ended in a large white rounded protrusion, similar to a head. The entire object rested on a short thick “paw”. True, in the eight minutes that passed before the camera lens returned to the object (it scanned the entire visible surface of the planet), it did not change its position at all.
- But then there were other objects?
Then the information came from the Venera 13 and Venera 14 missions in 1982. Thus, Venera 13 gave us an image of a strange “disk” changing its shape. The “disc” has a regular shape, apparently round, about 30 cm in diameter and resembles a large shell. In the first two frames (32nd and 72nd minutes), the appearance of the “disk” almost did not change, but at the end of the 72nd minute a short arc appeared in its lower part. On the third frame (86th minute) the arc became several times longer, and the “disk” began to divide into parts. At the 93rd minute, the “disk” disappeared, and in its place a symmetrical light object of approximately the same size appeared, formed by numerous V-shaped folds - “chevrons”. After 26 minutes, on the last frame (119th minute), the “disk” has completely recovered and is clearly visible. Thus, five frames demonstrate a complete cycle of changes in the shape of the “disk”.
But perhaps the most important “object” found in the footage transmitted from Venera 13 was an object code-named “scorpion”. He appeared around the 90th minute along with the half-ring adjacent to him on the right. What first attracted attention to him was, of course, his strange appearance. "Scorpio" is about 17 cm long and has a complex structure reminiscent of terrestrial insects or arachnids. Its shape cannot be the result of a random combination of dark, gray and light points. The “scorpion” image consists of 940 dots; the probability of such a structure being formed due to a random combination of dots is low. In other words, the possibility of a “scorpion” accidentally appearing is excluded. In addition, it casts a clearly visible shadow, and therefore it is a real object and not an artifact. A simple combination of points cannot cast a shadow.
Now about the dynamics of the appearance of the “scorpion”. The impact of the apparatus on the soil during landing caused the destruction of the soil at a depth of approximately 5 cm and threw it in the direction of lateral movement, covering the surface. In the first image (7th minute), a shallow groove about 10 cm long is visible in the ejected soil. In the second image (20th minute), the sides of the groove have risen, and its length has increased to approximately 15 cm. In the third (59th minute) a regular “scorpion” structure became visible in the groove. Finally, at the 93rd minute, the “scorpion” completely emerged from the 1–2 cm thick layer of soil that had covered it. At the 119th minute, it disappeared from the frame and is absent from subsequent images.
- The wind couldn't have blown it away?
We considered this option. Wind speed has been measured in many experiments and has been estimated to range from 0.3 to 0.48 m/s. Such speed could hardly move the object. Another likely reason for the disappearance of the "scorpion" could be that it moved.
- What methods did you use when working?
During processing, we used the simplest and “linear” methods - adjusting brightness, contrast, blurring or sharpening. Any other means - retouching, adjusting or using some version of Photoshop - were completely excluded.
Well, our scientists, as always, are modest in their repertoire, a little shy about the glory that is about to fall upon them. Even now, after so many years, they either pretend or really underestimate the results obtained. Judge for yourself: the director of the Institute of Space Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor Lev Zeleny, accidentally mentioned the moving “objects” discovered by Ksanfomality and other employees of the institute at a press conference on Monday, without attaching much importance to them. In this case, we can only recall the well-known aphorism that new ideas in science usually go through three stages: 1. What stupidity! 2. There is something in this... 3. Well, who doesn’t know this!
The outlines of city buildings are lost in the smoke that envelops the metropolis like a suffocating blanket. Because of this, it becomes impossible to breathe in a city that is already heated to the limit. In the countryside, fires shamelessly consume entire villages. Wild animals, maddened by thirst, forgetting about the instinct of self-preservation, go to human dwellings in search of life-giving moisture... A disaster movie script? July clearly explained to us the benefits of global warming. To imagine the greenhouse effect in all its glory, you can look at neighboring Venus. This sister of the Earth is fraught with no less mysteries than Mars. It is she who is able to tell what future awaits our planet.
Tierra del Fuego
The apocalypse, accompanied by fire, smoke and ash, is repeatedly described in ancient legends. Smoke and soot evoke similar associations among Muscovites. Some joke that burning peat bogs smell like Armageddon, some recall the Egyptian plagues, and others talk about the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar in 2012. And this is not surprising. All sources - from Hindu mythology to biblical prophecies - indicate that the Apocalypse will certainly be accompanied by fiery “special effects”. Thus, in the “Revelation” of John the Theologian it is said that when the first angel trumpets, “hail and fire” will fall on the Earth, forests and fields will catch fire, when the second angel trumpets, a “mountain blazing with fire” erupts into the sea with a trumpet the third angel, the planet is waiting for a star to fall from the sky, from which the waters on the surface of the planet will suffer, and after that the Sun, Moon and stars will be eclipsed.
The scenario with smoke and soot is mentioned both in the predictions of the Mexican Indians and in ancient Buddhist sources, and the Age of the Sixth Sun, the beginning of which the Mayans predicted by 2012, will bring fire. According to the calculations of the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus, the world should perish in fire every 10,800 years.
All these prophecies, if formalized, could perfectly illustrate a scientific report on the greenhouse effect. And despite the fact that the very fact of global warming is questioned by many scientists, the abnormal heating of the planet is still a pressing issue. Another thing is that the culprit may not be a person at all. Earth's neighbor Venus can tell you in detail where the threat will come from. The opinions of scientists that this particular planet was once suitable for life are heard more and more often today. According to one version, the blooming planet, as a result of a global cataclysm, received an atmosphere almost entirely composed of carbon dioxide, permeable to sunlight. And as a result, enormous temperatures on the surface destroyed all living things. Does a similar fate await the Earth?
Smoke and soot are indispensable attributes of the apocalypse in many ancient legends and works of art. This is, for example, how Albrecht Durer imagined the end of the world
Hello sister...
Venus was lucky with her image. Her name itself evokes romantic associations. Venus is the harbinger of dawn, and early in the morning or at dusk it is the brightest point in the sky. Astronomers affectionately call it the sister of the Earth, since it is the closest planet to us and both celestial bodies are very similar in size. Thus, the radius of our planet is 6356 kilometers, and Venus is 6051. A thick layer of clouds, in which there are no breaks, makes it impossible to see its surface. Due to the paucity of scientific data, until about the middle of the last century, there was an assumption that Venus could have acceptable conditions for life. However, several successful flights of Soviet vehicles to the planet dispelled this myth - it turned out that the situation on the planet was much more reminiscent of hell. “The temperature on the surface of Venus is approximately 470 degrees Celsius,” explains Lyudmila Zasova, head of the laboratory of planetary spectroscopy at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. - The atmosphere on the planet is about a hundred times thicker than the earth’s and consists almost entirely of carbon dioxide. Only in the early 70s of the last century did scientists find out the composition of the clouds that Mikhail Lomonosov had observed. It turned out that they consist of highly concentrated - 75 percent - sulfuric acid. Why isn't it hell?
Paradoxically, this “hell” has a lot in common with our earthly “paradise.” “The volumes of carbon and its compounds on Earth and Venus are approximately the same,” explains Lyudmila Zasova, “that is, at the stage of planet formation they received approximately equal amounts of carbon. Only here it is found mainly in carbonates and calcareous deposits on the ocean floor, and on Venus as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. If the oceans continue to warm at the current rate, gradually evaporating, then this gas could escape from the sediments.”
Venusian sulfur clouds in the earth's stratosphere also have an analogue - sulfuric acid aerosols, also consisting of highly concentrated sulfuric acid. Of course, they are far from the content observed on Venus, but such a coincidence makes us think.
Despite the fact that Venus is much closer to the Sun than the Earth, both celestial bodies receive approximately the same radiation. But almost half of the solar ultraviolet on Venus is neutralized at the cloud level, where, in addition to sulfuric acid, there is a mysterious ultraviolet absorber - scientists cannot yet understand its nature.
Perhaps billions of years ago our planets had much more in common. For example, Venus could have a liquid core and, accordingly, its own magnetic field, like the Earth. Moreover, it is likely that water may have been abundant on the planet's surface in the past. So far, however, only indirect signs indicate this. “The ratio of the “heavy” isotope of hydrogen - deuterium to “light” hydrogen on Venus is 150-300 times higher than on Earth,” explains Lyudmila Zasova. - Apparently, the water evaporated, and the light hydrogen that could have been part of it evaporated from the atmosphere of Venus over time. The existence of an ocean in the past could be indicated by the presence of carbonates, but so far they have not been found on Venus.” However, even without physical evidence, many scientists believe that Venus could be a flourishing planet that became a victim of a global cataclysm.
The romantic name of Venus is misleading; the situation on the planet is more like hell
Go!
Venus is considered a "Soviet planet". While missions to Mars were not going well for our country, each Soviet expedition to Venus ended in triumph - today it is domestic scientists who can boast that their devices have reached the surface of this planet, starting with Venera-7 in 1970 and before the Vega devices in 1985. Recently, however, the initiative has been seized by the European Space Agency with the Venus Express orbiter. Based on data from various missions, Western scientists today have begun to put forward bold hypotheses one after another regarding the past of Venus.
American specialist on terrestrial planets, Dr. David Grinspoon from the Southwest Research Institute, drew attention to the fact that the surface of Venus is surprisingly young. Its average age is 500 million years, and the oldest rocks are about 700 million, while the formation of the nearest planets occurred five billion years ago. Thus, the age of rocks on the surface of Mars is approximately 3.8 billion years, that of Earth is more than 4 billion. According to Dr. Grinspoon, the cause of such radical rejuvenation could have been a global catastrophe, the starting point of which was a strong greenhouse effect. After the water evaporated, tectonic movements on the planet almost completely stopped, and heat began to accumulate not only on the surface, but also inside, which provoked the melting of the entire crust.
The water on Venus could simply evaporate. So says Oxford University specialist Colin Wilson. It relies on data obtained by the Venus Express station. “Even now, the size of the evaporation is quite large,” says the scientist, “on Venus there could be, if not oceans, then small bodies of water.” Another question is how the greenhouse effect developed. Was it gradual?
The Russian Venera-D project for a comprehensive study of the planet, whose launch is scheduled for 2016-2018, can shed light on what is happening. The orbiter itself, equipped with the latest measuring instruments, will observe the behavior of the planet and its atmosphere. Astronomers intend to uncover the secret of superrotation - a phenomenon that causes the planet's atmosphere to rotate up to 60 times faster than the planet itself. It is planned to send two cylinders into the thick of “events” - one will be located in a layer of sulfur clouds, and the second will hide under the clouds at an altitude of 48-50 kilometers. Based on the results of their work, it may be possible to find out the nature of the substance that protects Venus from excess ultraviolet radiation. But the most important thing is that a descent module will go straight to the planet, which will be able to work on the surface for up to two hours. “Given the scientific tasks and experiments that we set today, this is quite enough,” believes Lyudmila Zasova. - Long-lived stations are a thing of the future. After 2020, devices will appear that can operate on Venus for up to two months.”
Whatever the result, it will in any case allow us to learn more about the future of the Earth. “We know almost nothing about life in the Universe,” laments David Grinspoon, “in fact, we only have one planet to serve as an example. And this is the same as making a generalized scientific conclusion based on a single source.” In this sense, the question: “Was there life on Venus?” - no less relevant than the eternal: “Is there life on Mars?”
“What we are dealing with now on Earth,” says Lyudmila Zasova, “is called climate instability. This summer is abnormally hot, and next summer may be cold. But what will such instability lead to? This is why we study the planets of the so-called terrestrial group, which include Mars and Venus.” Perhaps new research will tell us what the cataclysms of this summer are - a short-term whim of nature or the beginning of a long process, as a result of which the Earth will turn into a Venusian hell.
The temperature on the surface of Venus reaches 470 degrees Celsius
Maxim Morozov
No related links foundIn greenhouse conditions
Mikhail Sinitsyn, employee of the State Astronomical Institute named after P. K. Sternberg:
There is no evidence that there could be life on Venus. And it’s difficult to imagine that the atmosphere of this planet has somehow become denser to a size of 90 atmospheres. Rather, on the contrary, it is more realistic to “disperse” it. That is why, by the way, theories arise from the realm of science fiction that it is on Venus, and not on Mars, that conditions for resettlement can be created.
Hakan Shvedem, specialist at the European Space Agency:
- The “basic configuration” of Earth and Venus, in my opinion, was almost identical; during formation they received the same amount of substances. On Earth, during evolution, ideal conditions were formed for the presence of abundant water and the emergence of life. Perhaps something similar happened on Venus, until, as a result of certain events, the planet turned into a hot ball. This may be due to the fact that Venus is located closer to the Sun and under its influence the water was “knocked out” from the planet. But I do not rule out that the greenhouse effect could play an important role.