NASA Scientists Discover Reason Why Venus Has No Water

Scientists at NASA and University College London (UCL) have discovered that strong electric wind on Venus stripped away the water components from its upper atmosphere. The phenomenon reportedly played a major role in robbing the Earth-like planet of its oceans. The electric field of Venus is so strong that the heavy electrically charged part of water-oxygen escalated to escape the gravity of the planet.

"We never dreamt an electric wind could be so powerful that it can suck oxygen right out of an atmosphere into space," said Glyn Collinson, NASA scientist. "This is something that definitely has to be on the checklist when we go looking for habitable planets around other stars".  

Out of all the known planets in the Solar System, Venus is the most similar to Earth as far as size and gravity are concerned. According to reports, evidence suggests that the planet had oceans of water which heated up to become steam at a surface temperature of around 460 degrees Celsius. However, the thick atmosphere of Venus which is 100 times Earth's pressure has 10,000 to 100,000 less atmospheric water than our planet, indicating something got rid of its steam.
Previously, scientists attributed the phenomenon to solar wind, however now they have found that the violent electric wind is the main culprit that led to such an occurrence.

The research conducted by European Space Agency's (ESA) Venus Express mission by NASA-funded scientists observed the flow of electrons from the upper atmosphere of Venus, and found that the electrons were not leaving at the speed expected due to the tug of the planet's strong electric field. After monitoring the change in speed with the ASPERA-4 instrument's electron spectrometer aboard the ESA Venus Express, the researching team of scientists discovered that the strength of the field was much higher than expected, making it at least five times more powerful than our planet.

At the moment, the scientists are speculating whether such a phenomenon could occur due to the closer proximity of Venus to the Sun as compared to the Earth, and its subsequent exposure to ultraviolet radiation that is twice as bright. Further analysis of the role played by the electric winds of Venus will help researchers calculate the location and size of habitable regions around other stars.