Thread by @PlanetaryColin

@ThePlanetaryGuy So I was interested this so did a quick trawl through #LPSC2021 abstracts which mention Venus in the title or abstract; they have increased in number from <50 per year in 2006-2008 to >100 now. ... 1/n

@ThePlanetaryGuy You may be wondering, is that growth simply the expansion of LPSC? No. Venus-mentioning abstracts grew from a thin 3% of all LPSC abstracts to a healthier 6% this year. That's pretty impressive given how long ago it's been since the last surface-oriented Venus mission. But... 2/n

@ThePlanetaryGuy ... the number of abstracts follow, of course, what missions and new data are available. Back in 1994, at the peak of Magellan data analysis, Venus was mentioned in 20% of all LPSC abstracts. And that's with a single-instrument Venus orbiter. 3/n

@ThePlanetaryGuy ... Now imagine what we could do with a new Venus mission, or even a Venus programme. Or a Venus program, I guess 🚀🚀🛰️🌋. @unveilvenus #LPSCVenus

@ThePlanetaryGuy @unveilvenus Postscript: another plot, here, from adsabs.
Venus and Mars used to generate roughly equal numbers of publications until Magellan. Then you can see what happens when the rate of Venus missions drops off after Magellan (1989-1994). In short: there's plenty to investigate at Venus!

@ThePlanetaryGuy @unveilvenus (You can see the individual missions as bumps in these plots: e.g. Mars Vikings (mid 1970s), Mars Orbiter (1992); and, on the Venus side, Pioner Venus (launched 1978) & Magellan (launched 1989). And the drop in early 1980s when Voyager data from Jupiter & Saturn systems came in).