Venus Express has been making the most detailed study of the planet’s thick and complex atmosphere to date. The latest findings highlight the features that make Venus unique in the Solar System and provide fresh clues as to how the planet is - despite everything - a more Earth-like planetary neighbour than one could have imagined.
Venus: Earth’s twin planet? ESA’s Venus Express has revealed Venus as never before. For the first time, scientists are able to investigate from the top of its atmosphere, down nearly to the surface. They have shown it to be a planet of surprises that may once have been more Earth...
The unexpected temperature profile of Venus’s atmosphere Venus has a rich and complicated atmosphere - the densest of all the rocky planets – which is the key to understanding the planet itself. Venus Express, designed to perform an extensive investigation of the atmosphere, has revealed surprising details...
The restless atmosphere of Venus Venus Express has studied the true extent of Venus’s restless atmosphere. This includes the planet’s glow, its highly variable south polar vortex and the dynamic upper atmosphere, different from what is seen on any other rocky planet of the Solar Syst...
Caught in the wind from the Sun Venus Express has exposed the true extent to which the Sun strips away the atmosphere of Venus. This process could be an important contribution to the way the planet has evolved to become so different from the Earth.
Climate and Evolution Today, Venus is a hellish place of high temperatures and crushing air pressure. Venus Express is showing that this was not always the case. Instead, some time in the past, Venus was probably much more Earth-like and contained large quantities of water.
Last update: 28 November 2007
