In 2025, the private Venus Life Finder mission is scheduled to get to Venus. Researchers believe they will be able to find life in the clouds. Recent studies have shown that amino acids are well preserved in sulfuric acid.
Venus Exploration Spacecraft
The first private mission to Venus, called Venus Life Finder, will be launched to this planet in January 2025. It is expected that it will be launched into space using Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket. Its mission will be dedicated to the search for life in the atmosphere of this planet.
Venus Life Finder will try to determine if there are any organic molecules in the clouds of Venus, which consist of concentrated sulfuric acid. However, this is only the beginning, because this spacecraft will be only the first of a number that are planned to be launched as part of the Morning Star program.
At first glance, it may seem that this idea is quite ridiculous because concentrated sulfuric acid in combination with high temperatures can destroy a range of materials. However, scientists expect that one of the future missions will even be able to bring to Earth a sample of life existing in the clouds of Venus.
Sulfuric acid as an environment for life
The reason for scientists’ optimism is recent research. They were carried out by a group of scientists led by Sara Seager, professor of planetary sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Their work was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The authors of the scientific work note that they have not come to a final decision on whether life in sulfuric acid is actually possible. After all, it does dissolve numerous organic molecules, but not completely. Water is also a universal solvent, and the whole terrestrial biochemistry is based on this property.
But what if sulfuric acid is present in large enough quantities? Sara Seager’s 20-year-old son became interested in this issue. It turned out that no one was interested in this issue before. Moreover, it turned out that the DNA bases remain intact in this substance by themselves.
It is quite possible that some kind of life is developing in the clouds of Venus, built from the same elements as on Earth but with its own biochemistry. And scientists are serious about looking for it.
According to www.space.com
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