Alex Rosborough's Blog

Was Venus able to sustain life in our solar system

Venus is a terrestrial planet sometimes referred to as Earths sister planet as a result of their similar size and mass, and located right on the edge of the habitable zone.

However, the dense atmospheric pressure, which is 92 times that seen on earth, and is incredibly high surface temperature of 462^oC makes this planet inhospitable.

The ability of a planet to host life is bound by its distance from its star, and characteristics associated with its orbit.

however, the evolutionary history of our solar system sees changes in these characteristics, raising the question

Was Venus able to sustain life at some point in its evolutionary history?

Venus was like earth

When attending a seminar hosted by Dr Mattias Green, a researcher of oceanography at the school of natural sciences, Bangor university, the very possibility that Venus may have been able to sustain life was explained.

The rotation of Venus is extremely slow in comparison to earth, taking 243 earth days to complete a single rotation.

However, Mattias explained that early on in the planet’s evolutionary history, it may have rotated much faster, making the planet more habitable.

The idea of a faster rotation was derived from data collected via computer simulation models by Mattias and colleagues at NASA and the University of Washington.

He explained how this data also suggests Venus may have had a much cooler climate billions of years ago, also indicating the presence of an ocean.

The combination of these factors ultimately indicates a climate very similar to that seen on planet earth.

Tidal friction slowing planetary rotation

Mattias explained that his team concluded it was the oceans present on Venus that seem to be the most likely cause of the slowing down in planetary rotation.

The friction between tidal currents, and the ocean floor act to break planetary rotation.

The data shows that tides within the ocean of Venus would have been large enough to slow down the planets rotation by tens of earth days per million years if Venus was spinning similar to the rotation of earth today.

He put this into context by describing the breaking effects on earth changing the length of the day by 20 seconds per million years.

Mattias when on to explain how the tidal break of Venus would have slowed down its rotation to its current speed in 10 – 50 million years.

Should we study Venus

This study highlights how significant ocean tides are in the changes associated with planetary rotation, and how oceans can remodel a planet with just a few million year of existence.

The findings of Mattias and his team highlighted a fundamental factor in understanding the time frame in which a planet can sustain life, ocean tides.

This study has shed light on the possibility of past life on Venus.

Should we be exploring Venus for further signs of ancient life?

Should we be exploring Venus in greater depth to further understand the fate of our own Planet?

As explained by Mattias, the slowing of Earth rotation is inevitable as a result of our own ocean tides, therefore based on the factor alone is worth studying.

The power of team diversification

Throughout the talk, Mattias placed much emphasis on how this study would have not been possible without the implementation of the correct team to conduct the study as efficiently as possible.

This talk hasn’t shaped my career path as such, more reinforced the importance of implementing the correct team to achieve goals.

As an entrepreneur, finding the right team for business system management is crucial.

However, with my goal being to pursue an entrepreneurial venture in natural sciences, I initially underestimated the importance of diversifying within a team structure for research itself.

This has taught me that when moving forward in my career, team diversification is crucial in every aspect of achieving a goal.