New Delhi

Today, Venus is as hot as your pizza oven, even hotter than Mercury, which is the closest to the Sun. But still, it’s called Earth’s twin because of several reasons. The planet lies in the so-called "Goldilocks Zone" of the Sun, a narrow virtual ring where planets can hold water in a liquid state. Billions of years ago, Venus used to have as much water as Earth, an extremely crucial element for life to evolve. However, so far, scientists could not fully understand what led to the escape of this water to the solar system and how the planet transformed into a desert-like surface. But now, they may have solved this puzzle.

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"We're trying to figure out what little changes occurred on each planet to drive them into these vastly different states,” said Eryn Cangi, co-team leader and a scientist with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).

How did Venus lose its water?

Due to its proximity to the Sun, the sunlight is believed to have broken up water in its atmosphere into hydrogen and oxygen. The greater concentration of hydrogen in the atmosphere rapidly heated the planet, due to which the hydrogen escaped in a flow out to space. That’s how this hydrodynamic escape stripped Venus of its water.

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But not all water was lost in this process. It’s like dumping out a water bottle – there will still be a few drops left at the bottom.

Venus still losing water

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Venus still holds some water and the water is still leaking into the space. Scientists blame a process called HCO⁺ dissociative recombination (DR) for this phenomenon. As per this theory, when gaseous HCO+ reacts with the electrons, a neutral carbon monoxide molecule, CO, and a hydrogen atom, H, are formed. This process energises the hydrogen atom, which can then exceed the planet’s escape velocity and escape to space.

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The DR process is likely to have taken place throughout the history of the planet, which explains why Venus is still losing water.

(With inputs from agencies)