Before 1989, pre-Magellan orbiter and ground-based exploration of Venus produced significant datasets that will be useful when planning future missions to the planet.
radar & radio
Posted inEditors' Vox
How Radar Reveals the Hidden Fabric of Ice Sheets
A new review describes how measuring the polarization of radar waves in ice reveals glacier crystal structure, with implications for understanding past and future ice flow and sea-level rise.
Posted inNews
New Evidence Points to Venusian Lava Tubes, and They’re Really Big
Researchers bring new life to 30-year-old Magellan data to unearth the first direct evidence of the long-hypothesized structures.
Posted inFeatures
Discovering Venus on Iceland
Scientists trekked across Icelandic lava flows that served as stand-ins for Venus’s volcanic landscapes, testing tools and methods the upcoming VERITAS mission will use when it reaches the planet.
Posted inFeatures
Satellite Radar Advances Could Transform Global Snow Monitoring
The recent SnowEx campaign and the new NISAR satellite mission are lighting the way to high-resolution snowpack monitoring and improved decisionmaking in critical river basins around the world.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Maybe That’s Not Liquid Water on Mars After All
A “very large roll” of a radar instrument offers new insight into a highly reflective area near the Martian south pole.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Radar Surveys Reveal Permafrost Recovery After Wildfires
Boreal-permafrost systems are still resilient against wildfires, but continuous and long-term monitoring is needed to control the impact of climate change.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Spacecraft Surveys Shed New Light on Auroral Kilometric Radiation
Observations show low-density space channels guide Auroral Kilometric Radiation, like wind through mountain tunnels, offering new insights into its occurrence and directionality.
Posted inFeatures
How Researchers Have Studied the Where, When, and Eye of Hurricanes Since Katrina
Twenty years after one of the country’s deadliest storms, scientists reflect on improvements in the ability to understand and predict disasters.
Posted inOpinions
Glacier Monitoring from Space Is Crucial, and at Risk
A new community effort shows that Earth has lost 5% of its global glacier mass since 2000. The work highlights the necessity of spaceborne glacier observations and upcoming gaps in long-term monitoring.