Venus is extremely dry, indicating near-total water loss to space through different mechanisms. Hydrodynamic escape removed most water initially, but nonthermal H escape mechanisms such as HCO+ dissociative recombination play a crucial role in the present day.
The consensus view of Venus water loss mechanisms included resonant charge exchange, hot oxygen impact, and ion outflow. However, the most important present-day H loss process, HCO+ dissociative recombination, has been omitted, significantly impacting the understanding of water loss rates.
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