In a joint project with NASA and the German Aerospace Center, they found a layer of air on Venus for the first time. It was thought that it could be a possibility, but it’s now confirmed. Even though the oxygen is atomic and reactive the scientists say it shouldn’t be a threat or interfere with future missions involving the planet.
“A layer of atomic oxygen exists between these two opposing atmosphere currents.” Says Heinz-Wilhelm Hübers, a scientist that leads the team of astronauts.
As we all know, all living things need oxygen. The air on Earth is about 21% oxygen and most of the rest is made of nitrogen but on the other hand the air on Venus is made of 96.5% carbon dioxide, 3.5% nitrogen and the rest is made up of other gasses.
One question that scientists are asking themselves is, “Why are Venus and Earth so different?” Scientists think that Venus and Earth had a very similar atmosphere in the beginning, but now Venus has a greenhouse effect from lots of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. This effect makes the planet have high temperatures and inhospitable. Scientists are now trying to find out why this happened and why it didn’t happen to Earth if their atmospheres were similar.
