Space Volcanoes with Neil deGrasse Tyson and Natalie Starkey – Cosmic Queries

Venus Exploration

Venus, often shrouded in mystery due to its thick carbon dioxide atmosphere, presents significant challenges for exploration. Natalie Starkey explains that Venus's surface is covered in basaltic lava flows, similar to those found in Hawaii and Iceland, yet the planet remains vastly different from Earth despite its similar size and composition 1. The extreme surface conditions, with temperatures hot enough to melt lead, make it inhospitable for human exploration. However, upcoming missions from NASA, the European Space Agency, and India aim to uncover why Venus evolved so differently from Earth.

It's not a place we're going to be sending humans anytime soon, but it's a fascinating world because what we want to do is understand why it's ended up so different to Earth.

--- Natalie Starkey

These missions promise to provide new insights into Venus's volcanic landscape and its history 1.

   

Mars Volcanism

Mars, unlike Earth, lacks plate tectonics, which has allowed Olympus Mons to become the largest volcanic mountain in the solar system. Natalie Starkey describes Mars as a "stagnant lid planet," where a single crust allows mantle plumes to erupt through the same spot for millions of years, leading to the massive size of Olympus Mons 2. Mars's cooling has also resulted in the loss of its magnetic field, which once protected the planet's atmosphere and potentially supported life.

Mars did have a molten interior, and then it no longer does, so it's lost its magnetic fields.

--- Natalie Starkey

This loss poses challenges for future terraforming efforts, as sustaining an Earth-like environment would require overcoming the lack of natural shielding from solar radiation 3.

   

Outer Missions

The outer solar system has revealed fascinating volcanic phenomena, thanks to missions like Voyager. Natalie Starkey highlights that many moons, such as Io and Europa, exhibit volcanic activity, with Io being the most volcanically active body in the solar system 4. These moons often have icy surfaces with warm interiors, suggesting active geological processes beneath. The discovery of cryovolcanoes, or ice volcanoes, indicates that such features might be more common than the fiery volcanoes of the inner solar system.

It's almost like the ice volcanoes are more common than the kind of the hot ones that we see in the inner solar system.

--- Natalie Starkey

These findings underscore the importance of continued exploration to understand the dynamic nature of these distant worlds 5.