An article published in the journal “Geophysical Research Letters” describes the discovery of an electric wind on Venus that accelerates the ionized hydrogen and oxygen atoms that make up water molecules at such a speed that they disperse in space. A team of scientists led by Glyn Collinson, a scientist of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, analyzed data from the ASPERA-4 instrument of ESA’s Venus Express space probe to find out this wind generated by Venus’ electric field.

The planet Venus is in many ways similar to Earth but the environment on its surface is hell with temperatures around 460° C (860° F), an atmospheric pressure almost 100 times greater than that of Earth and an air unbreathable because it’s made almost entirely from the carbon dioxide that causes an extreme greenhouse effect. According to research done in the past, when Venus was young water was plentiful but now it’s gone.

So far, the solar wind was considered the culprit for the disappearance of Venus’ water. The flow of charged particles from the Sun could have pushed hydrogen ions, meaning protons, and oxygen ions out of the planet’s atmosphere eliminating the elements that make up water. According to this new research, things are more complicated.

Scientists think that all the planets with an atmosphere are surrounded also by a weak electric field. It helps to push the upper layers of the atmosphere towards outer space. The ASPERA-4 (Analyzer of Space Plasmas and Energetic Atoms) instrument aboard the Venus Express space probe was used to investigate the interaction between the solar wind and Venus’ atmosphere and the data show that the flow of the electrons that escape the atmosphere doesn’t have the expected speed.

Analyzing the data, the researchers realized that everything began with the electrons escaping Venus’ atmosphere. These electrons are bound to protons and positive ions by the electromagnetic force. The result is that electrical currents are created that on Venus have a voltage estimated at around 10 volts, about five times that present in the Earth’s electric field.

This electric wind helped to eliminate the elements of water leaving the planet Venus dry. According to the scientists’ estimates, Venus loses about 100 tons per year of materials due to this process. It seems little for an entire planet but it’s a phenomenon that might have started a few billion years ago.

The Venus Express mission ended in December 2014 but, as is normal, the data gathered keep on being analyzed in various researches. In this case, the discovery of the effect of the electric wind can be useful in the study of what happens on Mars but also of exoplanets to better understand which can really be habitable.