” There is a great deal of interest in Venus at the minute, following Jane Greaves preliminary report of phosphine in the clouds,” Dr. William Bains, who is a Senior Research Fellow at Cardiff University and lead author of the research study, tells Universe Today. “But opinions differ widely on whether there might be life there, from calling the clouds habitable to saying definitively that there can not be life there. So, we desired to evaluate what we understand about Venus, and about the standard concepts of life, and see whether life on Venus was a subject worth pursuing, or whether it could be eliminated from first concepts.”
A recent study released in Astrobiology analyzes the probability of the planet Venus being able to support life within the thick cloud layer that envelopes it. This study holds the prospective to help us better comprehend how life might exist under the intense Venusian conditions, as discussions within the scientific neighborhood about whether life exists on the second planet from the Sun continue to burn hotter than Venus itself.
Video discussing the initial report on phosphine in the clouds of Venus from Dr. Jane Greaves.
For the study, the scientists talked about the different elements of Venus clouds that could be responsible for potentially harboring any kind of life, even if its not Earth-like life. These consist of energy requirements for life, available chemical energy, absence of available hydrogen, lack of metals, cloud acidity, low water activity within the clouds, high radiation environment, and the mass of the Venus cloud biosphere.
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“But viewpoints differ commonly on whether there could be life there, from calling the clouds habitable to stating definitively that there can not be life there. We wanted to examine what we understand about Venus, and about the fundamental principles of life, and see whether life on Venus was a subject worth pursuing, or whether it could be ruled out from very first principles.”
The study also went over future astrobiology-based space objectives to Venus, specifically that they should be both little and cost-efficient with the objective of addressing science questions that are more focused in nature. The researchers keep in mind that while these smaller scale missions will not answer all of the concerns relating to Venus clouds, they will serve to “complement and inform bigger missions” to Venus.
One example the scientists mention is Rocket Labs mission to Venus, which was originally arranged to release in May 2023 but has actually considering that been delayed to 2025 and will mark the very first completely private mission to Venus. While this latest study focused on Venus clouds, are future astrobiology-focused space missions most likely to find life on the surface area or the clouds of Venus?
We argue that life in the clouds is possible, so the clouds are the location to look.”
Could we ever find life on Venus in spite of its extreme environment?
“But if there is life in the clouds of Venus, that would enormously expand our view of what habitable methods, as well as doubling the number of examples of life that we have to study.
” Our conclusions were that conditions in the clouds do not rule out life, although they do eliminate Earth-like life,” Dr. Bains tells Universe Today. “This is an important difference– that not all life in the Universe requires be like Earth life.”
” Life on the surface area seems * extremely * unlikely,” Dr. Bains tells Universe Today. We argue that life in the clouds is possible, so the clouds are the place to look.”
While the planet Venus is practically the same size as the Earth, the environment is far from comparable, with surface area temperature levels reaching 475 degrees Celsius (900 degrees Fahrenheit) and surface area pressures 90 times greater than Earths surface. In addition, carbon dioxide is the dominant atmospheric gas making up 96.5 percent of Venus toxic environment.
Image of Venus captured by NASAs Mariner 4 spacecraft as it sped away from the planet in February 1974. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech).
What brand-new discoveries will we make about Venus, its clouds, and the possibility for life on this severe and strange world? Just time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & & keep searching for!
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Artist illustration of the surface area of Venus. (Credit: NASA).
On the other hand, co2 just makes up 0.035 percent of Earths atmosphere. The world Venus is also entirely enshrouded in thick clouds of sulfuric acid rain, which prevent sunlight from getting away back out into space and adding to Venus runaway greenhouse impact. Could we ever find life on Venus despite its extreme environment?
” I am something of a pessimist about the abundance of life in the Universe,” Dr. Bains tells Universe Today. “But if there is life in the clouds of Venus, that would enormously broaden our view of what habitable methods, as well as doubling the variety of examples of life that we need to study. So even a tiny chance that there is life there deserves following up.”.
