Synergies between Venus & Exoplanetary Observations

Abstract

In this chapter we examine how our knowledge of present day Venus can inform terrestrial exoplanetary science and how exoplanetary science can inform our study of Venus. In a superficial way the contrasts in knowledge appear stark. We have been looking at Venus for millennia and studying it via telescopic observations for centuries. Spacecraft observations began with Mariner 2 in 1962 when we confirmed that Venus was a hothouse planet, rather than the tropical paradise science fiction pictured. As long as our level of exploration and understanding of Venus remains far below that of Mars, major questions will endure. On the other hand, exoplanetary science has grown leaps and bounds since the discovery of Pegasus 51b in 1995, not too long after the golden years of Venus spacecraft missions came to an end with the Magellan Mission in 1994. Multi-million to billion dollar/euro exoplanet focused spacecraft missions such as JWST, ARIEL and their successors will be flown in the coming decades. At the same time, excitement about Venus exploration is blooming again with a number of confirmed and proposed missions in the coming decades from India, Russia, Japan, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In this chapter, we review what is known and what we may discover tomorrow in complementary studies of Venus and its exoplanetary cousins.

Dynamics and Evolution of Venus’ Mantle Through Time

“…Core cooling and inner core crystallisation drive convection in the liquid iron-rich core and possibly power a core dynamo. This dynamo can generate a planetary magnetic field, which may interact with the atmosphere in several ways including shielding from stellar winds and volatile loss, but to date this remains strongly debated (see Way et al 2023;Gillmann et al 2022).…”

The Long-Term Evolution of the Atmosphere of Venus: Processes and Feedback Mechanisms

“…Importantly, the rate of silicate weathering depends on the concentration of CO 2 in the atmosphere and on the surface temperature, which efficiently regulates the climate against fluctuations of atmospheric CO 2 and against increasing incident insolation (Walker et al 1981). Way et al (2022b) also offers an in-depth look at weathering and volatile cycles, in the context of exoplanetary studies.…”