When NASA’s Parker Solar Probe briefly swung by Venus, it detected a natural radio signal that revealed the spacecraft had flown through the planet’s upper atmosphere, which marks the first direct measurement of the Venusian atmosphere in nearly 30 years. Unlike Earth, Venus lacks a magnetic field, and its surface is hot enough to melt lead. There have been a spacecraft that have landed, but all only survived a couple hours at most.
The FIELDS instrument on the Parker Solar Probe measures in the Sun’s atmosphere, and for a mere seven minutes when it was closest to Venus, it detected a natural, low-frequency radio signal. Similar to Earth, Venus boasts an electrically charged layer of gas at the upper edge of its atmosphere, called the ionosphere. that naturally emits radio waves capable of being detected by instruments like FIELDS.
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I was just so excited to have new data from Venus. When multiple missions are confirming the same result, one after the other, that gives you a lot of confidence that the thinning is real,” said Robin Ramstad and Glyn Collinson of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
