--- title: Scientists Discover Why Venus Lacks Water description: Venus has an "electric wind" strong enough to strip traces of water from its upper atmosphere canonical: https://time.com/4376511/electric-wind-nasa-venus/ author: Emma Ockerman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-21T20:32:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T22:44:39.819Z article:section: Science og:title: Scientists Discover Why Venus Lacks Water og:description: Potentially solving a longtime mystery og:url: https://time.com/4376511/electric-wind-nasa-venus/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39a1a646c55a2090/698898cbbc6cfc4db53dd7e5/venus-illustration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Illustration, planet Venus og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Scientists Discover Why Venus Lacks Water twitter:description: Potentially solving a longtime mystery twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39a1a646c55a2090/698898cbbc6cfc4db53dd7e5/venus-illustration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Electric Wind' May Be Why Venus Lacks Water > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=65960757-8755-4e8f-accd-9ed333773b9b&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) by [Emma Ockerman](https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/) ## Emma Ockerman Jun 21, 2016 8:32 PM UTC  Illustration of planet Venus Illustration of planet Venus Peter Bull Dorling Kindersley—Getty Images/Dorling Kindersley by [Emma Ockerman](https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/) ## Emma Ockerman Jun 21, 2016 8:32 PM UTC Scientists have long wondered why [Venus](http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/24/why-you-should-be-really-really-glad-you-dont-live-on-venus/?iid=sr-link4)‘ atmosphere lacks water, and now they may have solved the mystery. Venus has an “electric wind” strong enough to strip traces of water from its upper atmosphere, according to a [statement released Monday ](http://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2016-06/agu-wc062016.php)by the NASA-funded researchers who worked on the[ European Space Agency’s Venus Express mission](http://www.esa.int/Our%5FActivities/Space%5FScience/Venus%5FExpress). [The planet](http://time.com/3941269/venus-jupiter-june-30-conjunction/?iid=sr-link1), similar to the Earth in size and gravity, [contains evidence that it previously had oceans](http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1999792,00.html?iid=sr-link4). But due to its high surface temperatures of 860 degrees Fahrenheit, those oceans likely boiled away to steam, which would have left more significant traces of water in the planet’s atmosphere than are currently found. Now, though, scientists say it’s possible the “[electric wind” played a part in gradually eroding an “ocean’s worth of oxygen and water” from Venus’ atmosphere.](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1002/2016GL068327/asset/grl54302.pdf?v=1&t=ippk7m0f&s=63d7fe414365887e7f5e6e22a15d2806b6fb53c6) NASA described the wind as an electric field so strong it causes electrons to accelerate past the planet’s gravity, a phenomenon that could be caused by the planet’s proximity to the sun. “It’s amazing, shocking,” [Glyn Collinson, a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center](http://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sed/bio/glyn.a.collinson), said in the statement. “We never dreamt an electric wind could be so powerful that it can suck oxygen right out of an atmosphere into space. This is something that has to be on the checklist when we go looking for habitable planets around other stars.” With knowledge about the electric wind,[ astronomers should be able to improve their estimates of the size and location of habitable zones ](http://time.com/3969886/nasa-discovers-earth-planet/?iid=sr-link9)near other stars. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4376511/electric-wind-nasa-venus/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4376511/electric-wind-nasa-venus/"},"headline":"'Electric Wind' May Be Why Venus Lacks Water","datePublished":"2016-06-21T20:32:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:44:39.819Z","description":"Venus has an \"electric wind\" strong enough to strip traces of water from its upper atmosphere","url":"https://time.com/4376511/electric-wind-nasa-venus/","keywords":["Space","NASA"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39a1a646c55a2090/698898cbbc6cfc4db53dd7e5/venus-illustration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Emma Ockerman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39a1a646c55a2090/698898cbbc6cfc4db53dd7e5/venus-illustration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Illustration, planet Venus","caption":"Illustration of planet Venus","creditText":"Peter Bull Dorling Kindersley—Getty Images/Dorling Kindersley","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4376511/electric-wind-nasa-venus/","name":"'Electric Wind' May Be Why Venus Lacks Water"}}]}] ```