Clouds of Venus are likely habitable place
In search of extraterrestrial life, the astronomy continues to make a conjectures and hypothesis. So, Mars, for example, is supposed to had and still have underground waters, that makes this planet well suitable for life. Among the candidates for the presence of any form of life – Saturn’s satellites Titan and Enceladus, as well as satellites of Jupiter - Europe, Ganymede and Callisto, where life lurked probably under the icy crust of the oceans.
And now, scientists have turned, or rather returned to the study of another shelter of life beyond Earth, which is the atmosphere of Venus. The arguments in favor of the potential microbial population of the venusian atmosphere are presented in an article published recently in the Astrobiology magazine by an international team of researchers led by Sanjay Limaye from the University of Wisconsin, USA.
"Venus has had plenty of time to evolve life on its own," said Limaye, noting that some models suggest a habitable climate on Venus and the presence of liquid water on its surface for two billion years, that is much longer than on Mars.
But, after a while a powerful greenhouse effect has led to the evaporation of the seas and water transfer to the atmosphere.
Cloudy, highly reflective and acidic atmosphere of the second planet from the Sun is composed mainly of carbon dioxide and water droplets. In similar conditions on Earth, some microbes feel great, can feed on carbon dioxide and produce sulfuric acid.
The biophysicist Harold Morowitz and the famous astronomer Carl Sagan first voiced the idea of the habitable clouds of Venus in 1967. In the 1970-80s of the last century a few probes were launched to Venus. The data obtained showed that at an altitude of 40 to 60 kilometers from the surface of the planet, the temperature and pressure are quite suitable for microbial life. On the planet itself, living organisms, to put it mildly, would feel uncomfortable, because the temperature reaches over 450 degrees Celsius.
In addition, according to spectroscopic observations, done almost a century ago, dark patches, consisting of concentrated sulfuric acid and other unknown light-absorbing particles were found in the atmosphere of Venus. Their organic or inorganic nature still remains unsolved mystery for science. However, it is known that the particles have almost the same dimension as some terrestrial bacteria. And, the patches themselves may be algae blooms, which usually exist in the lakes and oceans of the Earth.
However, any theoretical assertion needs to be matched by concrete evidence. According to Limaye, it will be possible to study in detail the composition of the Venus clouds with the help of NASA-designed probe "Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform", which is designed to collect air samples.
The agency plans to include this platform as an additional element in the team of the Russian mission "Venus-D", which will study the atmosphere, the surface of Venus and find out the reasons for the evaporation of water from this planet. The mission is planned to be launched in the late 2020s.
