In order to find an answer, a thorough examination of every aspect of Venus is necessary, including how its appearance has changed over time. While Earth has plate tectonics which shapes its landscape with moving tectonic plates, Venus does not have this process. However, a recent study suggests that Venus may have a unique variation of plate tectonics where blocks of its surface have shifted and twisted, altering their surroundings. These dancing blocks, which are thin and flat slices of rock known as campi (derived from the Latin word for "fields"), vary in size from as small as Ireland to as large as Alaska. They were discovered using data collected during NASA's Magellan orbiter mission, the agency's final exploration of Venus. In the early 1990s, the mission utilized radar to penetrate the planet's dense atmosphere and create a comprehensive map of its surface. Upon revisiting these maps, researchers identified 58 campi spread out across the volcanic plains of the planet. These campi are surrounded by lines of small mountain ranges and grooves, which have been altered and damaged over time. According to Paul Byrne, a planetary scientist at North Carolina State University and the lead author of the study, the campi on Venus were created by being moved around by the flowing mantle below, similar to how pack ice moves. Campi moving towards stationary land would create mountains while those moving away would stretch the land and create grooves. Campi moving side-to-side would leave strain marks and etchings along boundaries. The fact that this deformation occurred in the lowlands of Venus is important. The lava covering these landscapes ranges in age from 750 to 150 million years old, making them some of the youngest on the planet. The tectonic activity that created these campi 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. By using advanced radar systems, these orbiters will provide high-resolution images of the campi, helping scientists determine if any have moved since the time of Magellan. If evidence is found that Venus is tectonically active, it would support the idea that Venus may not be as active as Earth, but still has some level of tectonic activity. In the past, Venus may have had a large amount of water for billions of years, which could have allowed for plate tectonics to occur. Plate tectonics involve the breaking, bending, and flowing of plates, which is facilitated by liquid water. This process helps regulate climate by burying and erupting carbon, preventing runaway global warming that could make planets uninhabitable. However, it is possible that multiple volcanic events caused Venus to become dry and inhospitable, leading to the shutdown of its plate tectonics. Therefore, over the past billion years, the surface of the entire planet has been a solitary, stagnant, and mostly unchanging plate. However, this does not mean that the planet is devoid of movement. Previous missions such as Magellan have identified fault networks, rift zones, and mountain ridges, which are evidence of both ancient and more recent tectonic activity. If the findings of this new study are accurate and large areas of Venus have been recently experiencing movement, it suggests that the planet's surface is more dynamic than previously believed, according to Joseph O'Rourke, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University. Understanding the reasons behind Venus's unexpected tectonic activity would have significant implications. There are numerous Earth-sized and Venus-sized planets in the universe, and how their tectonic activity unfolds will play a crucial role in their destinies. According to O'Rourke, it is essential to comprehend Earth and Venus in order to understand other rocky planets in our solar system and beyond. Venus, with its many unexpected characteristics, poses a challenge to this endeavor.