Radar data reveals cavernous underground lava tube on Venus

February 11, 2026 11:18 AM

Radar data reveals cavernous underground lava tube on Venus

A fresh examination of radar data for Venus obtained by NASA's Magellan spacecraft in the 1990s indicates the presence of a large underground cavity created by a lava flow, the first subsurface feature ever detected on Earth's planetary neighbor. Researchers said the radar data was consistent with a geological feature called a lava tube that is found in certain volcanic locations on Earth. Lava tubes also exist on the moon and are thought to be present on Mars. Venus has carefully guarded its ...

Venus has more volcanism than previously known, new analysis finds

September 16, 2024 6:41 PM

Venus has more volcanism than previously known, new analysis finds

Venus appears to be more volcanically active than previously known, according to scientists whose new analysis of decades-old radar images has spotted evidence of eruptions at two additional sites on the surface of Earth's inhospitable planetary neighbor. Radar images obtained by NASA's Magellan spacecraft from 1990 to 1992 indicated large lava flows at these two locations in the Venusian northern hemisphere at the time of the observations, the researchers said. These findings, coupled with pre...