But future missions, scientists say, are safe from both rare lightning strikes and meteors known to burn up high above the planet's clouds.
© FutureVenus as clicked by the Akatsuki orbiter in March 2018.
The thick, acid-rich clouds of Venus continue to shroud the planet next door in mystery.
Scientists have long-debated whether
intriguing light flashes recorded by previous Venus missions are evidence of lightning strikes on the planet. If those flashes really represent lightning, future missions to the windy planet need to be designed such that they are strong enough to survive the bolts, which are known to damage electronics here on
Earth.
Moreover, lightning on
Venus means Earth's cosmic neighbor would join the rare planetary club whose current members — Earth,
Jupiter and
Saturn — host lightning bolts in their clouds. Such flickers of light would also be unique on the world in that they'd exist despite Venus' clouds lacking water, a substance considered key in creating electrical charges.
So, scientists are excited by the possibility of lightning on Venus — but the evidence so far has been
circumstantial at best.
And now, a new study suggests lightning might be extremely rare on the planet. Instead, it offers the possibility that meteors burning up high in Venus' atmosphere are very likely responsible for the detected light flashes.
Assuming there'd be a similar number of
meteors raining on Venus as seen on Earth, the team estimated the number of flashes these space rocks should cause. The researchers then compared that data to the flashes recorded in the planet's atmosphere by two surveys: The Mt. Bigelow Observatory in Arizona and Japan's Venus orbiter Akatsuki, which has been circling our planetary neighbor since 2015.
Results showed that
space rocks burning up about 62 miles (100 km) from Venus' surface "may be responsible for most or even possibly all of the observed flashes," according to the study. "Lightning thus does not seem like a threat to missions that pass through or even linger within the clouds."
Data from previous Venus missions by the U.S., Europe and the former Soviet Union included signals that scientists have long interpreted as lightning strikes, and suspected they even occur more frequently than those that flash on Earth.
In the recent past, however, both the Saturn-bound
Cassini and the sun-bound
Parker Solar Probe "searched for but failed to find radio signals from lightning" on Venus, researchers wrote in the new study.
Studies like this are important for planning future missions to Venus, an effort that is widely considered
long overdue, especially as the recent detection of a possible
active volcano on the planet's surface shows the world may still be geologically active.
If lightning strikes are really a risk, probes that attempt to descend to the surface of Venus or those that will float for months in its thick atmosphere will need protection while gathering valuable data.
While there may still be lightning at the surface caused by volcanic eruptions, the new study finds that overall, it is not of significant concern to future missions.
Future probes that descend quickly through Venus' atmosphere are safe, researchers say. That includes
NASA's
DAVINCI (short for Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble Gases, Chemistry, and Imaging), which is scheduled to plunge through the planet's atmosphere in early 2030s.
For long-lived aerial platforms that hover in the planet's clouds for about 100 Earth days or more, the study finds that a lightning strike is more likely to occur if the probe is within 56 miles (90 km) from the surface.
"However, perhaps such a moderately distant strike would seem more exciting than dangerous," according to the new study.
This research is described in a
paper published Aug. 25 in the
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.
Reader Comments
Or just leave the fools there so they can glue their genitals to a rock in protest of the high CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere of Venus.
I don't care either way, so long as we ship them ALL off our planet. Like cockroaches, if you leave one alive it will magically reproduce on its own...
Won't happen eh?!!
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Celebrate🔥
Pedal before the metal.
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There has to be a million telescopes focused on the moon at any given time - why no moon landings?!
"The American flag measures 4 feet in length. To see the flag from Earth, you would need a telescope at least 200 meters in diameter! The Hubble telescope, with a paltry diameter of 2.4 meters, would be extremely ineffective in resolving the American flag.
Now, let’s look at something that’s bigger than the flag – the lunar Rover. Its length is 3.1 meters, so it would take a telescope 75 meters in diameter to spot it. Another element, the lunar lander base, along with the landing gear (which is 9.5 meters across) would require a telescope nearly 25 meters across to even barely represent it in a single pixel." [Link]
In my view, I think AI, 5G, smart cities, transhumanism, neural implant technology and behavior/moods, directed energy weapons, nanotechnology like quantum dots, quantum computer technology, the metaverse, virtual reality. Why? Because these are all affecting the world now.
Yet posting about " AI, 5G, smart cities, transhumanism, neural implant technology and behavior/moods, directed energy weapons, nanotechnology like quantum dots, quantum computer technology, the metaverse, virtual reality ..." seems to attract trolls
LOL!!
Bring it on!
Hurt people hurt people.
As if any of that crap has its place here. Really!!
In the film, Cold Case Hammarskjold, the investigators are trying to determine if Dag was murdered and by whom. They nearly give up, but they find one mercenary who revealed the story and that the mercenary group was run by the CIA/MI6. The problem is the documentary did not receive broad distribution. I found it by accident and watched it because I have read Markings by Hammarskjold.
FYI this thread regards VENUS. Venus is LOVE RELATIONSHIPS HEALTH BALANCE PROSPERITY. Can you try to honour THE FEMININE in all of us?
... get lit💡or get burned⚡️
Or as codis ?
I build nothing with sorrow.
Nobody merits being bullied.
But for the last phrase of course -- we all.know that.
Venus is a planet with a hostile and toxic atmosphere.
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You do realize that what we do for work or pleasure is for our personal journey of healing?
Could a new war erupt between Armenia and Azerbaijan? 'An explosive situation' brews near Russia's southern borders
Tensions between Baku and Yerevan mount again, against a background of increasing US and EU activity in the region The situation in the South Caucasus is once again becoming tense, as the...Bears Dancing in the Forest [Link]