"Venus has long been known as Earth's evil twin. While they both are roughly the same size and formed in the same inner region of the solar system, Venus is far less hospitable to life as we know it. Its surface temperatures can reach over 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Its clouds are made of sulfuric acid, and its surface atmospheric pressure is almost 100 times that of Earth, the equivalent of being 3,000 underwater."
"And beneath all those extreme conditions, the planet could harbor cavernous structures called lava tubes, as an international team of researchers suggests in a new paper accepted for publication in the journal Icarus. On Earth, lava tubes are the byproduct of volcanic activity that is left behind as liquid lava retreats, and are believed to exist on the Moon and Mars as well."
Venus exhibits extreme surface conditions: temperatures above 900°F, sulfuric-acid clouds, and atmospheric pressure nearly 100 times that of Earth. Beneath these conditions the planet could contain lava tubes, cavernous structures formed as lava retreats. Venusian surface gravity, roughly 91 percent of Earth's, permits tubes up to about 0.62 miles across to remain structurally stable. Finite Element Limit Analysis (FELA) was used to estimate upper bounds on tube sizes. Lava tube dimensions of a few hundred meters align with observed Venusian channel sizes. Future missions with higher-resolution imaging and geophysical instruments are needed to search for pit chains, skylights, and subsurface voids.
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