Scientists were able to observe tectonic activity inside Venus

The team used observations made by the Magellan spacecraft, which orbited Venus from 1990 to 1994, and mapped the surface using radar. The features he observed have been studied before, but new research uses a new computer model that can detect surface deformations that indicate large lithosphere block structures. It seems that these blocks, each the size of Alaska, are slowly hitting each other like broken ice in a pond or lake.

This is quite different from the type of current plate tectonics on Earth. If confirmed, however, it would be evidence of heat currents and molten materials inside Venus, something that has never been seen before. The authors argue that the parallelism with Earth’s geology during the Archean Eon period (2.5–4 billion years ago) suggests that “packaged ice” models could be a transition from pre-tectonic plate tectonics when the planet was like Earth.

This movement is “widespread throughout the Venus Plains, and advocates a style of global tectonics that was not previously recognized,” says Sean Solomon, a researcher at Columbia University and author of the new research.

The findings spark more excitement behind it New missions for Venus It has just been approved by NASA and the European Space Agency. Solomon says he and his team hope the three will provide “critical data to test the ideas we have described in our paper”. These missions won’t be ready to launch until the end of the decade, so let’s hope the excitement doesn’t diminish in the years to come.