In order to find an answer, all aspects of Venus must be thoroughly examined, including how its surface has changed over time. While Earth has plate tectonics which shapes its features, Venus does not have this process. However, a recent study suggests that Venus may have a unique variation of plate tectonics, with certain parts of its surface made up of blocks that have moved and twisted, altering their surroundings. These dancing blocks, which are thin and flat slices of rock known as campi (which means "fields" in Latin), vary in size from as small as Ireland to as large as Alaska. They were discovered using data from NASA's Magellan orbiter mission, the agency's final mission to Venus. In the early 1990s, radar technology was used to penetrate the planet's thick atmosphere and create a detailed map of its entire surface. Upon revisiting these maps, researchers identified 58 campi scattered across the volcanic lowlands of the planet. These campi are surrounded by lines of small mountain ranges and grooves, which have also been altered and marked over time. According to Paul Byrne, a planetary scientist at North Carolina State University and the lead author of the study, the reason for the formation of the campi on Venus is that they were essentially being dragged around by the flowing mantle below. Byrne compares the movement of the campi to pack ice shimmying around. When campi moved towards immobile land, it would cause the ground to form mountains, while moving away would stretch the land and create grooves. The side-to-side movement of campi along boundaries would leave strain marks and etchings. The fact that this deformation occurred in the lowlands of Venus is significant. The lava covering the landscapes is estimated to be between 750 and 150 million years old, making them some of the youngest on the planet. The tectonic activity that created these landscapes occurred relatively recently in the history of the solar system. NASA's VERITAS and Europe's EnVision missions will investigate whether this tectonic activity is still ongoing. Using advanced radar systems, these orbiters will provide high-resolution images of the landscapes, allowing scientists to determine if any movement has occurred since the time of Magellan. If evidence is found, it will confirm the belief that Venus is still geologically active, although not as much as Earth. Venus may have once had a large amount of water, which could have allowed for plate tectonics to occur. This process helps regulate the climate by moving carbon, preventing extreme global warming. However, Venus may have experienced catastrophic events, such as volcanic eruptions, that led to its current barren and inactive state. Therefore, over the past billion years, the surface of the entire planet has been relatively motionless and unchanging. However, this does not mean that Venus is completely stable. Previous missions like Magellan have revealed fault networks, rift zones, and mountain ridges that show evidence of past movements. If this new study is accurate and shows that large areas of Venus have recently been shifting, it suggests that the planet's surface is more dynamic than previously thought. Joseph O'Rourke, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University not involved in the study, stated that understanding why Venus has this unexpected tectonic activity could have significant implications. There are numerous Earth- and Venus-sized planets in the universe, and how their tectonic activity influences their destinies is crucial to comprehend. According to O'Rourke, if we cannot understand Earth and its closest neighbor, we cannot claim to understand any rocky planet within or beyond our solar system. Venus, with all its unexpected features, presents a significant challenge in this regard.