<p>After NASA balloon successfully detected a series of earthquakes that rocked the city of Ridgecrest California in 2019, researchers are aiming to detect quakes on the surface of the hottest planet in the solar system, Venus, with a balloon.</p>.<p>In 2019, a group of researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech tested its highly sensitive barometers, typically used to measure atmospheric pressure, and other instruments attached to a high-altitude balloon to detect a naturally-occurring earthquake.</p>.<p>The researchers’ bet paid off later that month when the barometers registered low-frequency sound waves created by an aftershock following an earthquake on the ground. Researchers believe these findings could signal a breakthrough for the study of Venus, as earthquake-detecting balloons could float over the planet’s inhospitable surface and atmosphere, which have swallowed many a spacecraft in a matter of hours.</p>.<p>In a new study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, the team has staked out the potential of using the balloon-based earthquake detection kit to detect seismic activity on the brightest extraterrestrial body in Earth’s night sky.</p>.<p>An under-the-surface look at the planet’s inner workings could shed light on some of the mysteries that have been hidden behind its inhospitable environment. In fact, some scientists have long speculated that the planet once may have been capable of supporting life before turning into a barren rocky ball of volcanic activity.</p>.<p>Last year, a team of astronomers from Cardiff University even announced the likely detection of phosphine in the upper levels of the planet’s atmosphere—a gas which some suggest could be evidence of living organisms.</p>.<p>The research suggests that the balloon-based earthquake detection system could work even better in Venus’s dense atmosphere as sound waves from volcanic eruptions and earthquakes travel faster.</p>
<p>After NASA balloon successfully detected a series of earthquakes that rocked the city of Ridgecrest California in 2019, researchers are aiming to detect quakes on the surface of the hottest planet in the solar system, Venus, with a balloon.</p>.<p>In 2019, a group of researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech tested its highly sensitive barometers, typically used to measure atmospheric pressure, and other instruments attached to a high-altitude balloon to detect a naturally-occurring earthquake.</p>.<p>The researchers’ bet paid off later that month when the barometers registered low-frequency sound waves created by an aftershock following an earthquake on the ground. Researchers believe these findings could signal a breakthrough for the study of Venus, as earthquake-detecting balloons could float over the planet’s inhospitable surface and atmosphere, which have swallowed many a spacecraft in a matter of hours.</p>.<p>In a new study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, the team has staked out the potential of using the balloon-based earthquake detection kit to detect seismic activity on the brightest extraterrestrial body in Earth’s night sky.</p>.<p>An under-the-surface look at the planet’s inner workings could shed light on some of the mysteries that have been hidden behind its inhospitable environment. In fact, some scientists have long speculated that the planet once may have been capable of supporting life before turning into a barren rocky ball of volcanic activity.</p>.<p>Last year, a team of astronomers from Cardiff University even announced the likely detection of phosphine in the upper levels of the planet’s atmosphere—a gas which some suggest could be evidence of living organisms.</p>.<p>The research suggests that the balloon-based earthquake detection system could work even better in Venus’s dense atmosphere as sound waves from volcanic eruptions and earthquakes travel faster.</p>
