Findings from the BepiColombo spacecraft from Europe and Japan may explain how an Earth-like planet became a “hell”.
During its flyby of the closest planet to Earth, the BepiColombo spacecraft from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has provided some intriguing data.
BepiColombo flyby of the “hell” planet Venus – (Photo: ESA).
The analysis led by Dr. Lina Hadid from the Plasma Physics Laboratory (LPP) at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) based on BepiColombo data has discovered that this planet is losing its upper atmospheric layer.
This results in the loss of carbon and oxygen in the fragile upper atmosphere into space.
The authors note that this is the first time the phenomenon of loss of positively charged carbon ions has been observed on Venus.
Unlike Earth, Venus does not generate an intrinsic magnetic field in its core.
However, a weak comet-like induced magnetic field is created around the planet due to the interaction of charged particle streams emitted from the Sun – known as solar wind – with charged particles in Venus’s upper atmosphere.
Venus once had many similarities with Earth, including a significant amount of liquid water.
However, the process of interaction with solar wind has stripped away the water, leaving an atmosphere primarily composed of carbon dioxide, with a small amount of nitrogen and several trace elements.
Therefore, the detection of the loss of carbon ions and oxygen can help scientists trace back the path to infer the mechanisms contributing to how a planet situated in the habitable zone, very similar to Earth, became a “hell” of suffocating conditions.
Understanding the mechanisms that can destroy a planet that could have hosted life also provides astronomers with additional tools to filter exoplanets, thereby narrowing down the worlds with the most potential for life.
