The proposed VERITAS mission to Venus is one of the finalists for NASA’s Discovery Program. If selected, it will revolutionize our knowledge about the planet’s geology and how this formerly habitable world became a fiery wasteland. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/veritas-mission-venus-surface-interior-geology…
Tag: plate tectonics
Life in the galaxy: maybe this is as good as it gets?
Researchers have found that rocky exoplanets which formed early in the life of the galaxy seem to have had a greater chance of developing a magnetic field and plate tectonics than planets which formed later. As both these conditions are considered favorable to the development of life, this means that if life exists in the Galaxy, it may have developed earlier…
Plate tectonics may have started on Earth 3.2 billion years ago
Rocks from a 3.2-billion-year-old formation in Australia have changes in the direction of their magnetism over time that suggest plate tectonics started earlier than we thought Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2241509-plate-tectonics-may-have-started-on-earth-3-2-billion-years-ago/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Marsquakes: InSight lander shows active faults in planet’s crust
The results from its NASA’s Mars InSight lander’s first 10 months on the martian surface have been published in a series of papers. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/mars-quakes-insight-lander-shows-active-faults…
How unique is Earth?
Scientists studying white dwarf stars have found that some contain traces of rocky debris very similar in composition to rocks found on Earth. The finding suggests that worlds similar to Earth might be common in our Milky Way galaxy. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/earth-not-unique-rocky-debris-white-dwarf-stars…