Venus and Earth, dissimilar siblings
Venus and Earth, dissimilar siblings
Venus is almost the same size and mass as the Earth, but the planet has developed in a completely different way. At the surface, Venus' atmospheric pressure is over 90 times that of the Earth at sea-level. Dense clouds of sulphuric acid prevent observation in the visible light range. However, the venusian atmosphere can be studied using radar – shown in the artist's impression of Venus on the right as a colour-coded radar map calculated from data from NASA's Magellan probe – and in some wavelengths of the infrared spectrum. This is the task of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Venus mission EnVision, which is scheduled for launch in 2031 and whose findings will help to identify the reasons for the differences in the development of the two planets.
Credit:
NASA/JAXA/ISAS/DARTS/VR2planets/Damia Bouic