Radar Data Reveals Cavernous Venusian Lava Tube

Radar Data Reveals Cavernous Venusian Lava Tube

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — A fresh examination of radar data for Venus obtained by NASA’s Magellan spacecraft in the 1990s indicates the presence of a large underground cavity created by a lava flow, the first subsurface feature ever detected on Earth’s planetary neighbor.

New Evidence Points to Venusian Lava Tubes, and They’re Really Big

For decades, scientists have suspected the presence of lava tubes on Venus. After all, at least 85% of the planet is covered in volcanic flows. And with more than 1,600 major volcanoes or volcanic features, Venus has more volcanoes than any planet in our solar system. New research published in Nature Communications has provided the strongest evidence yet for the existence of Venusian lava tubes, or underground passages formed by lava flows. And …