Researchers Call Venus Clouds Too Dry to Support Life

LONDON – An international research team led by experts from Queen’s University Belfast, UK breaks the notion that Planet Venus have life.

Reported BBC News, Tuesday (29/6/2021), previously there was hope about the existence of life on Planet Venus. The presence of phosphine gas (PH3) makes researchers conclude that there are microbes in the atmosphere of Venus.

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Then the research team compared the possibility with the atmosphere on Earth. The analysis concluded that “extremophile” is the most extreme term for microbes that live in extremely challenging conditions and would not be able to survive, let alone thrive.

“We found not only that the effective concentration of water molecules was slightly below what is needed for the most resilient microorganisms on Earth, it was more than 100 times too low,” said Dr John Hallsworth of the Belfast School of Biological Sciences.

This result is in contrast to previous expert research on PH3 on the planet Venus. On Earth, phosphine is associated with life with microbes that live in the guts of animals such as penguins, or in oxygen-poor environments such as swamps.

The September team, led by Prof Jane Greaves from Cardiff University, raised the possibility of microbial life on the planet Venus and invite other groups to debunk their theories.

Some astronomers initially questioned the veracity of the PH3 observations made with two different telescope systems. But this latest challenge comes from a very different angle – from biochemists. Dr Hallsworth is a microbiologist whose focus is on the reactions of living organisms to stress.

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Prof Greaves highlighted the dark streaks that are sometimes visible over short time spans in the atmosphere in ultraviolet light. There is speculation that these could be colonies of microbes that evolve, die, and then reappear.

Dr Chris McKay astrobiologist and US space agency researcher (NASA) said he would be happy to think Venus was inhabited. But direct measurements of the atmosphere made by past investigations really show that this is not possible.

“It’s much harder to say a place is habitable than it is to say a place is uninhabitable, explains Dr McKay.

NASA and the European Space Agency have just approved three new missions to visit Venus starting at the end of this decade. Rocket Lab was sent to enter Venus’ atmosphere as soon as 2023. The craft will try to sample phosphine gas as the probe descends through the clouds.

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