Despite its inhospitable appearance, Venus may harbor life, especially in its atmosphere: unexplained chemical abnormalities were detected there, including the possible presence of ammonia. MIT researchers propose a chain of chemical processes that, from the simple presence of ammonia (potentially biological origin in this study), can neutralize the acidic environment in the atmosphere.
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[EN VIDÉO] Magellan reveals the topography of Venus This visualization is a quick tour of the entire planetary terrain of Venus as revealed by the radar aboard the Magellan spacecraft. Site elevations are color coded, with blue and green representing low elevation and red representing high elevation. Two main “continents,” or plateaus, Aphrodite Terra and Ishtar Terra, the Maxwell Montes mountains and Maat Mons, a large, currently dormant volcano, are highlighted.
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It is sometimes nicknamed “Earth’s twin planet” because of some of its similarities (size, pulp, composition), Venus is our closest planetary neighbour. With an average temperature of 460 ° C, the surface is constantly cleaned ventilation blowing at nearly 100 m/s, creating mostly unfavorable conditions for anyone’s survival Form of life familiar. As for hers atmosphere, consisting of 96% of carbon dioxide, and much denser than the earth’s atmosphere, with a pressure to the ground by 93 bar (that is, almost 93 times the pressure at the earth’s surface). It also contains thick cloud dioxide compounds sulfur and dropssulfuric acid, sometimes at the origin of the rainAC id sulfuric acid (which also evaporates before it can reach the surface).
An inhospitable planet suspected of having life-threatening conditions?
Despite these unattractive features, several parameters lead to Scientist suspect Venus to hide life, especially in its atmosphere: first, at an altitude of about 50 kilometers, the pressure and temperature are similar to those at the Earth’s surface (about 1 bar, and temperatures range from 0 to 50 °C), which offers much milder conditions than at the surface of Venus. On the other hand, anomaly Chemicals that remain unexplained have been detected in the Venusian clouds, such as the presence of low oxygen levels, non-spherical particles (as opposed to spherical droplets of sulfuric acid), and even small concentrations of water vapor. The vertical profile of sulfur dioxide and the abundance of water vapor in Venus’ atmosphere also seems difficult to explain. Even more interestingly, the presence of ammonia was detected there by Sins in the 1970s. Venus 8 and Pioneer Venus, but its origin in Venus’ atmosphere remains unexplained.
MIT scientist (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Cardiff University and Cambridge University, attempted to identify the chemical reactions that occur in The atmosphere of Venus to explain the observed deviation. In their model, the reaction was generated by the presence of ammonia, which would have made it possible to activate a chemical reaction with a domino effect which on the one hand could explain the detected anomaly but also to neutralize the sulfuric acid droplet: by dissolving in the sulfuric acid droplet, the ammonia could neutralize the acid and trap it. sulfur dioxide in the form of the ammonium sulfite salt. The capture of this sulfur dioxide would explain its vertical abundance anomaly. Droplets containing ammonium salts will then have conditions similar to those of the environment acidophil mundane, which makes them “potentially habitable”.
Biological origin for ammonia?
Although the source of ammonia is currently unknown, scientists suspect that its presence may involve biological production, as they do not do so through other non-biological processes such as for example. volcanism or lightning. In addition, it contains ammonia (NH3).hydrogen, which occurs only in very small amounts in Venus’ atmosphere: a gas that do not belong to their environment, are easily suspected to be related to biological processes.
If Venus’s ammonia was indeed produced by a form of life, the scientists participating in the study took their model further: the reaction that produces the most energy-efficient ammonia would also produce oxygen, to detect O explains.2 cloud cover.
This model therefore suggests the possibility that chemical processes largely explain the abnormalities detected in Venus’ atmosphere, but also include biological sources capable of producing ammonia, which makes conditions more favorable for the survival of all life forms. In short, this research shows that life can create its own environment Venus. The hypothesis is interesting, and scientists have compiled a list of chemical signatures that future missions to the Venusian clouds will aim for (including missions). Discoverer of Life Venus) should focus on trying to verify this.
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