As of: March 23, 2024, 4:37 p.m
By: Cefina Gomez
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A new study may shed light on whether Venus's clouds are more hospitable to life forms than previously thought.
Massachusetts – Can life in the solar system be found outside Earth?
Researchers are currently working on the question of whether the Venus clouds could possibly support life.
Unlike the sweltering and uninhabitable surface of Venus, temperatures in the planet's cloud layer, which extends about 60 kilometers above the surface, are milder and could harbor some extremophile life forms.
If there is life in the solar system beyond Earth, it could be found in the clouds of Venus
Scientists have previously suspected that a possible existence in Venus clouds would be very different from life forms on Earth because the clouds themselves are made of highly toxic droplets of sulfuric acid, a corrosive chemical that dissolves metals and destroys most biological molecules on Earth.
The latest study results published in the journal
Astrobiology
by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) question the original assumption.
According to the new findings, some key components of life could actually survive in solutions containing concentrated sulfuric acid.
Scientists have new insights into Venus clouds.
© dpa/ESA/ATG medialab
“Venus’ clouds could contain complex chemicals necessary for life”
The study's researchers discovered that 19 vital amino acids critical to life on Earth can remain stable for up to four weeks when stored in sulfuric acid containers at concentrations similar to those found in the clouds of Venus.
Most importantly, they found that the molecular “backbone” of all 19 amino acids remained intact in sulfuric acid solutions at a concentration of 81 to 98 percent.
“We find that the building blocks of life on Earth are stable in sulfuric acid, and that is very intriguing to the idea that life on Venus is possible,” explains MIT professor and study author Sara Seager.
However, the life that the Venus clouds could harbor should not be compared to life as we know it.
“This work advances the idea that Venus’ clouds may contain complex chemicals necessary for life,” Seager emphasizes.
Research around Venus
For years, scientists thought they were seeing mysterious lightning from Venus, but there is now a surprising explanation for the phenomenon.
A German research team has managed to detect oxygen in the atmosphere of Venus.
Venus is Earth's neighbor planet, but not necessarily closest to it.
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Venus Clouds: Is There a Possibility That Earth's Sister Planet Hosts Life?
In recent years, the search for life in the clouds of Venus has gained momentum, particularly after the controversial detection of phosphine, a molecule considered evidence of life, in the planet's atmosphere.
Although the validity of this evidence remains debated, this news has brought a long-standing question back into the spotlight: Is there a possibility that life exists on Venus?
In an effort to find answers, scientists have planned several missions to Venus, including the first largely privately funded mission backed by California space company Rocket Lab.
Led by Seager, this mission aims to send a spacecraft through the planet's clouds to study their chemistry for signs of organic molecules.
(cg)