Exploring Venus as a Terrestrial Planet (Geophysical Monograph Series)

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 176.

With the search for extra-solar planets in full gear, it has become essential to gain a more detailed understanding of the evolution of the other earth-like planets in our own solar system. Space missions to Venus, including the Soviet Veneras, Pioneer Venus, and Magellan, provided a wealth of information about this planet' enigmatic surface and atmosphere, but left many fundamental questions about its origin and evolution unanswered.

This book discusses how the study of Venus will aid our understanding of terrestrial and extra-solar planet evolution, with particular reference to surface and interior processes, atmospheric circulation, chemistry, and aeronomy. Incorporating results from the recent European Venus Express mission, Exploring Venus as a Terrestrial Planet examines the open questions and relates them to Earth and other terrestrial planets. The goal is to stimulate thinking about those broader issues as the new Venus data arrive.

Larry W. Esposito is an American planetary astronomer and a professor at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder. A 1973 graduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Esposito received his Ph.D in astronomy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Ellen Renee Stofan is the former Chief Scientist of NASA and served as principal advisor to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on the agency's science programs, planning and investments. She resigned from NASA in December 2016.