Venus

New modeling of water activity on different solar system planets has found that Venus would be too dry for even the most extreme forms of life – but there may be other contenders in our solar system that we hadn’t considered.

A new study shows that tectonic activity may have caused sections of Venus’ planetary crust to become fragmented into smaller bodies that barge past each other like chunks of ice on water. The planet may still be capable of hosting tectonic activity.

ESA has selected EnVision as its next Venus orbiter. Scheduled to launch between 2031 and 2033, the robotic deep-space probe will carry out a comprehensive survey of Earth's sibling planet to learn why the two turned out so very different.

Venus should have been Earth’s twin, but clearly that’s not the case today with its thick poisonous atmosphere and barren rocky surface. Now, as part of its Discovery Program, NASA has selected two new missions to Venus to investigate what went wrong.

In September 2020, astronomers announced the discovery of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus, a possible sign of life. But a new study has found that a different gas could explain the signature – one that's more common and doesn’t indicate life.

Venus may not have had Earth-like tectonic plates for the last billion years, according to the results of a new study. Instead, the planet, which is often referred to as Earth’s twin, may be covered in a single thick outer plate.

The joint ESA-JAXA BepiColombo probe has successfully completed the first of two scheduled flybys of Venus, gathering data about the planet's dense carbon dioxide atmosphere as it came to within 10,720 km its surface.

Venus may owe its extreme atmosphere to an ancient run-in with the gas giant Jupiter, which could have fundamentally altered the planet’s orbit, and led to the loss of massive amounts of its water reserves.

Rocket Lab has plans for a private mission to Venus in 2023. New Atlas spoke with the company’s CEO Peter Beck about the road ahead, his long-time fascination with our nearest planetary neighbor and the machinery that he plans to use to explore

While Mars may be the most likely place we might find life beyond Earth, it's not alone. High in the atmosphere of Venus, astronomers have made the startling discovery of a gas called phosphine – a strong contender for a sign of microbial life.

An international team of scientists led by Takeshi Horinouchi of Hokkaido University suggests that a atmospheric equivalent of tidal waves may be responsible for the super-rotation of the atmosphere of Venus, which acts as a giant heat engine.

NASA wants help designing a vital element of a rover that could one day explore Earth’s hellish twin, Venus. The component would allow the rover to safely explore the surface, and must be capable of enduring a brutal alien environment.