Billions of Years Ago, Venus May Have Had a Key Earthlike Feature

Source: The post is based on the article”Billions of Years Ago, Venus May Have Had a Key Earthlike Feature“published in “The New York Times” on october 26,2023.

Why in News?

A study published Thursday in the journal The Nature Astronomy suggests that Venus in its youth may have possessed a key Earth-like trait: plate tectonics, the continual reshaping of pieces of the planet’s outer crust.

What is the comparison between Earth and Venus ?

What models were adopted in the study?

(1) Tectonic models types- Scientists set up computer simulations exploring two types of tectonic models.
(A) The stagnant lid Model- It describes worlds like Mars and the Earth’s moon where the     outer crust consists of a solid shell are unmoving.
(B) The plate tectonics Model- It models on the earth’s plate tectonics activities. On Earth, about 80 percent of volcanism occurs along mid-oceanic ridges where two tectonic plates are spreading apart and magma upwells.

What are the key findings of the study ?

(1) Less Nitrogen in Venus than what is estimated today- The simulations indicated that in Venus, there would be less nitrogen than what is observed today (current estimation of Nitrogen is 3.5%).

(2) Simultaneous plate tectonic activities in both earth and Venus- Very likely, both the planets had plate tectonics operating roughly at the same period of time.

What are upcoming missions to study about Venus?

(1)NASA’s Davinci spacecraft (Launch in 2029)-To make precise measurements of the gases in the atmosphere, providing clues to present-day volcanism.
(2) NASA mission (Veritas)– To make detailed measurements of the planet’s gravity and take high-resolution images of the surface.
(3)The European Space Agency mission(EnVision)– To help scientists understand why conditions on Earth and Venus diverged so much.

Upsc syllabus- Science&Technology(Space Science)