Earth’s Toxic Twin

Named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, Venus seems to embody the qualities of the lovely deity from the perspective of distant observers. It is the brightest planet in Earth’s night sky and the second brightest object overall (outshone only by the Moon).

Venus is the hottest planet in our Solar System, covered in toxic clouds reeking of sulfuric acid. Temperatures at the surface are hot enough to melt lead, while the thick carbon dioxide atmosphere above forces pressures over 90 times those on Earth.

On the ground, the opaque clouds obscure the Sun, allowing only a dim, bleak light to reach the surface. Learn more here.

The desolate landscape may appear nothing like our habitable world. However, there’s a good reason scientists call this hazardous planet “Earth’s twin.”

These similarities suggest they share an internal structure consisting of a metallic core enclosed by a mantle with a thin, rocky exterior crust.

In addition to these fundamental characteristics, Venus may have also once been a livable, Earth-like planet. Scientists have found evidence that billions of years ago, when the Sun was cooler, liquid water may have been common on the Venusian surface.

In these earlier days of the Solar System, research suggests the climate on Venus also supported habitable temperatures. Scientists are also searching for evidence of life, though whether any existed during this time remains entirely speculative.

The first planet visited by a spacecraft, Venus has received landers and orbiters from numerous space agencies. The few that have reached the surface survived only a few minutes before they were melted by high temperatures, crushed by intense pressures, or corroded by toxic gas.

Though their time was short-lived, landers provided instrumental data in shaping the scientific understanding of Venus.

For example, the Venera 13 orbiter and lander returned the first color images of Venus' surface and was the first mission to record sounds (wind) on another planet.

During its 2-hour, 7-minute life on the surface, it also directly sampled the soil, reporting its volcanic characteristics to Earth.


Learn more about Venera 13 here.

From atmospheric probes to radar orbiters, numerous planned upcoming missions aim to resolve Venus's intriguing past and current geologic mysteries. 

Thanks to these scientific surveyors, the next few decades promise to be an exciting era of insight into the harsh place that may have once resembled our home.