EnVision: taking the pulse of our twin planet

Ghail, R. C.; Wilson, Colin; Galand, M.; Hall, David L.; Cochrane, C. G.; Mason, Philippa J.; Helbert, J.; Montmessin, Franck; Limaye, S. S.; Patel, Manish R.; Bowles, Neil E.; Stam, Daphné; Wahlund, Jan‐Erik; Rocca, F.; Waltham, David; Mather, Tamsin A.; Biggs, Juliet; Genge, Matthew J.; Paillou, Philippe; Mitchell, K. L.; Wilson, L.; Singh, Upendra N.

doi:10.1007/s10686-011-9244-3

Cited by 29 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Given the association of rifts and other features with these topographic rises, subcrustal lid rejuvenation very likely drives a range of more subtle geological process at the surface at the present day. New missions capable of change detection, such as interferometric SAR (Ghail et al, 2012; Hammer-Aitoff Equal Area Great Circle Fits Asthenosphere 0 5000 km 5000…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rheological and petrological implications for a stagnant lid regime on Venus

Ghail

2015

Planetary and Space Science

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a b s t r a c tVenus is physically similar to Earth but with no oceans and a hot dense atmosphere. Its near-random distribution of impact craters led to the inferences of episodic global resurfacing and a stagnant lid regime, and imply that it is not currently able to lose proportionately as much heat as Earth. This paper shows that a CO 2 -induced asthenosphere and decoupling of the mantle lid from the crust, caused by the elevated surface temperature, enables lid rejuvenation. Global hypsography implies a rate of 4 Á 0 7 0 Á 5 km² a À 1 and an implied heat loss rate of 32 Á 8 7 3 Á 6 TW, $ 90% of a scaled Earth-like rate of heat loss of 36 TW. Estimates of the rate of lid rejuvenation by plume activity -0 Á 07 to 0 Á 09 km² a À 1 -imply that ten times the number of observed plumes are required to equal this rate of heat loss. However, lid rejuvenation by convection allows Venus to maintain a stable tectonic regime, with subcrustal horizontal extension (half-spreading) rates of between 25 and 50 mm a À 1 determined from fits to topographic profiles across the principal rift systems. While the surface is largely detached from these processes, the association of rifting and other processes does imply that Venus is geologically active at the present day.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rheological and petrological implications for a stagnant lid regime on Venus

Ghail

2015

Planetary and Space Science

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“…Recent data provided from the Venus Express Mission show evidence of geologically young, and even ongoing, volcanism on the venusian surface (Smrekar et al, 2010). However, the thermal history of Venus remains an enigma and there are many fundamental and unanswered questions on the structure and evolution of its lithosphere (e.g., Smrekar et al, 1997;Stofan et al, 1997;Phillips et al, 1997;Grimm and Hess, 1997), which are key issues for understanding Venus in the context of the origin and evolution of the terrestrial planets (Garvin et al, 2009;Ghail et al, 2012;Sotin et al, 2014;VEXAG, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lithospheric structure of Venus from gravity and topography

Jiménez‐Díaz

Ruíz

Kirby

et al. 2015

Icarus

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a b s t r a c tThere are many fundamental and unanswered questions on the structure and evolution of the venusian lithosphere, which are key issues for understanding Venus in the context of the origin and evolution of the terrestrial planets. Here we investigate the lithospheric structure of Venus by calculating its crustal and effective elastic thicknesses (T c and T e , respectively) from an analysis of gravity and topography, in order to improve our knowledge of the large scale and long-term mechanical behaviour of its lithosphere. We find that the venusian crust is usually 20-25 km thick with thicker crust under the highlands. Our effective elastic thickness values range between 14 km (corresponding to the minimum resolvable T e value) and 94 km, but are dominated by low to moderate values. T e variations deduced from our model could represent regional variations in the cooling history of the lithosphere and/or mantle processes with limited surface manifestation. The crustal plateaus are near-isostatically compensated, consistent with a thin elastic lithosphere, showing a thickened crust beneath them, whereas the lowlands exhibit higher T e values, maybe indicating a cooler lithosphere than that when the venusian highlands were emplaced. The large volcanic rises show a complex signature, with a broad range of T e and internal load fraction (F) values. Finally, our results also reveal a significant contribution of the upper mantle to the strength of the lithosphere in many regions.

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“…These were proposed separately to ESA as M-class missions in 2010 under the names "European Venus Explorer (EVE)" (Chassefière et al 2009; for the balloon mission (Fig. 5), and "EnVision" (Ghail et al 2012) for the orbiter mission They were also proposed together as a combined L-class mission in 2013 (Wilson et al 2013).…”

Section: Esamentioning

confidence: 99%

Future of Venus Research and Exploration

et al. 2018

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Despite the tremendous progress that has been made since the publication of the Venus II book in 1997, many fundamental questions remain concerning Venus' history, evolution and current geologic and atmospheric processes. The international science community has taken several approaches to prioritizing these questions, either through formal processes like the Planetary Decadal Survey in the United States and the Cosmic Vision in Europe, or informally through science definition teams utilized by Japan, Russia, and India. These questions are left to future investigators to address through a broad range of research approaches that include Earth-based observations, laboratory and modeling studies that are based on existing data, and new space flight missions. Many of the highest priority questions for Venus can be answered with new measurements acquired by orbiting or in situ missions that use current technologies, and several plausible implementation concepts have Venus III Edited

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EnVision: taking the pulse of our twin planet

Cited by 29 publications

References 54 publications

Rheological and petrological implications for a stagnant lid regime on Venus

Rheological and petrological implications for a stagnant lid regime on Venus

Lithospheric structure of Venus from gravity and topography

Future of Venus Research and Exploration

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