A new study suggests that Venus’ Youthful Appearance may be the result of a relentless bombardment by asteroids and comets in the early history of the solar system. This intense high-energy impact from celestial objects caused the planet’s interior to superheat, giving it a more youthful look.

Unlike Earth, Venus has very few visible impact craters on its surface. The age of a planet’s surface is estimated by counting the number of these craters, with more craters indicating a longer period of time for impacts to occur. Earth’s constantly changing surface and the presence of subduction zones at the boundaries between continental plates prevent craters from accumulating.

Venus, on the other hand, Lacks Plate Tectonics but has a significant number of volcanoes, surpassing 80,000 in total. Lava flows from these volcanic vents, gradually filling in craters and creating a more youthful appearance for the planet. However, the driving force behind Venus’ volcanic activity has remained a mystery since it lacks plate tectonics.

According to a team of planetary scientists led by Simone Marchi of the Southwest Research Institute, the answer may lie in the intense bombardment Venus experienced in its early history. By comparing the impact histories of Earth and Venus, the researchers found that Venus endured more energetic impacts. These higher-impact velocities caused as much as 82% of Venus’ mantle to melt, leading to billion years’ worth of volcanic activity.

While this theory remains speculative, upcoming missions to Venus, such as the European Space Agency’s EnVision and NASA’s DAVINCI, may provide further evidence to support this hypothesis. These missions aim to study Venus’ surface, subsurface, and atmospheric conditions, providing valuable data to confirm the findings of this research. The study was published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

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