Venus is almost exactly Earth's size — but a runaway greenhouse effect has made it the hottest planet in the Solar System. Beneath unbroken clouds of sulfuric acid lies a crushing, scorching world that spins the wrong way and turns more slowly than it orbits.
Venus is hotter than Mercury despite being further from the Sun. Its dense atmosphere — 96% carbon dioxide — traps heat so efficiently the surface reaches 465°C, hot enough to melt lead. The pressure is 92 times Earth's, like being 900 m deep in the ocean.
Venus rotates clockwise — the opposite of nearly every other planet — and so slowly that a single day (243 Earth days) is longer than its year (225 days). On Venus, the Sun would rise in the west and set in the east.
Venus is almost identical to Earth in size, mass and composition — a glimpse of how differently two sister worlds can turn out. Beneath its clouds lie volcanoes, vast lava plains and mountains, all hidden from view except by radar. A warning, and a frontier.
“Earth's twin became a furnace. A reminder of how fragile a habitable world really is.”
— CEO GALILEO