NASA Grant Funds Simulation to Study Atmosphere of Venus

University of Arkansas researchers received a NASA grant to study the interaction between the atmosphere and surface of Venus. The three-year, $417,000 award will allow scientists to simulate conditions on the surface of Venus in the W.M. Keck Laboratory’s Venus chamber, one of five such simulators at the university.

Venus, Earth’s closest neighbor, is of particular interest to scientists because its hot, dense atmosphere has properties of both a liquid and a gas close to the planet’s surface. “It is very thick and very hot, to a point that there is a transition between your classic atmosphere, which is a gas, and a supercritical fluid,” said Vincent Chevrier, an associate professor at the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences.

It’s not well understood how minerals on Venus’ surface will react in a supercritical atmosphere, Chevrier said, because there are few places that can simulate the planet’s extreme conditions. Atmospheric pressure at the surface is about 95 times higher than Earth, while the temperature reaches 460 degrees Celsius, or 860 degrees Fahrenheit. The university’s Venus chamber, which is about the size of a soda can, is one of a few in the country and has been used for NASA-funded experiments in the past.

Read the full story from Arkansas Research here.