Artist’s impression of the NASA Magellan spacecraft making radar observations of Venus, with the data indicating the presence of a subsurface lava tube on this handout picture launched on February 9, 2026.
| Photograph Credit score:
RSLab, College of Trento
A contemporary examination of
radar data for Venus obtained by NASA’s Magellan spacecraft in
the Nineteen Nineties signifies the presence of a big underground cavity
created by a lava move, the first subsurface function ever
detected on Earth’s planetary neighbor.
Researchers stated the radar data was according to a
geological function known as a lava tube that’s present in sure
volcanic places on Earth. Lava tubes additionally exist on the moon
and are regarded as current on Mars.
Venus has rigorously guarded its secrets and techniques, with its floor
shrouded by thick noxious clouds. However radar can peer by way of
these clouds.
Scientists had theorized the presence of lava tubes on
Venus, contemplating its historical past of volcanism.
“Shifting from concept to direct remark marks a significant step
ahead, opening the door to new traces of analysis and offering
essential data for future missions aimed toward exploring the
planet,” stated Lorenzo Bruzzone, a radar and planetary scientist
on the College of Trento in Italy, senior creator of the examine
printed on Monday within the journal Nature Communications.
The researchers analyzed data acquired by Magellan’s
Artificial Aperture Radar remote-sensing instrument from 1990 and
1992 at places bearing indicators of localized floor collapses
suggestive of lava tubes beneath. They used a just lately developed
data-analysis methodology aimed toward figuring out underground cavities
like lava tubes.
The construction they detected, interpreted as a part of an empty
lava tube, is on the western flank of the Nyx Mons, which is a
defend volcano – a broad and gently sloped volcano whose total
form resembles a warrior’s defend – measuring about 225 miles
(362 km) extensive and situated within the planet’s northern hemisphere.
The realm has a lot of pits brought on by floor collapses.
“Our data of Venus remains to be restricted, and till now we
have by no means had the chance to straight observe processes
occurring beneath its floor,” College of Trento radar
scientist and examine lead creator Leonardo Carrer stated.
Venus has a diameter of about 7,500 miles (12,000 km),
barely smaller than Earth. Magellan mapped 98% of the Venusian
floor. Its data helped give scientists a fundamental understanding
of the floor of Venus, which possesses extra volcanoes than any
different planet in our photo voltaic system and reveals in depth proof
of previous lava flows on its floor.
“Lava tubes are pure underground tunnels created by
volcanic exercise. They often type inside basaltic lava flows,
the place low-viscosity lava continues to maneuver beneath a solidifying
floor,” Bruzzone stated.
The Magellan instrument’s side-looking remark geometry
was capable of spot radar reflections coming from underground
cavities.
The obvious lava tube recognized within the data has an
estimated common diameter of about six-tenths of a mile (1 km),
a roof thickness of at the least 490 ft (150 meters) and an empty
cavity reaching a peak of at the least 1 / 4 of a mile (375
meters). Because of the Magellan data’s limitations, solely the
preliminary portion of the construction could possibly be straight noticed. The
researchers suspect it’s for much longer, stretching maybe
a number of miles.
Its dimensions make it each wider and taller than lava tubes
discovered on Earth or predicted for Mars. It lies on the higher finish
of the scale vary anticipated – and in a single case already noticed –
on the moon. The researchers stated the construction’s dimension just isn’t
solely shocking contemplating that lava channels noticed on
the Venusian floor are bigger and longer than these current on
different planets and moons in our photo voltaic system.
“Intense volcanic exercise is thought to have performed a significant
position in shaping the floor and geology of Venus, in addition to in
driving exchanges between the planet’s inside and its
ambiance. Current research counsel that some volcanoes on Venus
should still be energetic right now, a risk that future missions to
the planet are anticipated to make clear and higher constrain,”
Bruzzone stated.
By its very nature, a lava tube wouldn’t be associated to
ongoing volcanism, Bruzzone stated.
Venus is the second planet from the solar, Earth third and
Mars fourth. Venus has acquired a lot much less scientific consideration
than Mars, however two vital missions are looming – the European
Area Company’s Envision and NASA’s Veritas.
Each spacecraft will carry superior radar techniques able to
capturing higher-resolution photographs. Envision will carry an
orbital ground-penetrating radar able to probing the Venusian
subsurface to depths of a number of hundred yards (meters).
“The approaching decade guarantees to be a pivotal one for Venus
analysis,” Carrer stated.
Printed on February 9, 2026
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