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Schulze-Makuch D, Irwin LN, Irwin T. Proposed Missions to Collect Samples for Analyzing Evidence of Life in the Venusian Atmosphere. ASTROBIOLOGY 2024; 24:397-406. [PMID: 37852009 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2022.0134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2023]
Abstract
The recent and still controversial claim of phosphine detection in the venusian atmosphere has reignited consideration of whether microbial life might reside in its cloud layers. If microbial life were to exist within Venus' cloud deck, these microorganisms would have to be multi-extremophiles enclosed within the cloud aerosol particles. The most straightforward approach for resolving the question of their existence is to obtain samples of the cloud particles and analyze their interior. While developing technology has made sophisticated in situ analysis possible, more detailed information could be obtained by examining samples with instrumentation in dedicated ground-based facilities. Ultimately, therefore, Venus Cloud-level Sample Return Missions will likely be required to resolve the question of whether living organisms exist in the clouds of Venus. Two multiphase mission concepts are currently under development for combining in situ analyses with a sample return component. The Venus Life Finder architecture proposes collection of cloud particles in a compartment suspended from a balloon that floats for weeks at the desired altitude, while the Novel solUtion for Venus explOration and Lunar Exploitation (NUVOLE) concept involves a glider that cruises within the cloud deck for 1200 km collecting cloud aerosol particles through the key regions of interest. Both architectures propose a rocket-driven ascent with the acquired samples transported to a high venusian orbit as a prelude to returning to Earth or the Moon. Both future conceptual missions with their combined phases will contribute valuable information relative to the habitability of the clouds at Venus, but their fulfillment is decades away. We suggest that, in the meantime, a simplification of a glider cloud-level sample collection scenario could be accomplished in a shorter development time at a lower cost. Even if the cloud particles are not organic and show no evidence of living organisms, they would reveal critical insights about the natural history and evolution of Venus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dirk Schulze-Makuch
- Astrobiology Group, ZAA, Technical University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Section Geomicrobiology, GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
- Department of Experimental Limnology, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Stechlin, Germany
- School of the Environment, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA
| | - Louis N Irwin
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, USA
| | - Troy Irwin
- Oasis Systems, LLC, San Antonio, Texas, USA
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Petkowski JJ, Seager S, Grinspoon DH, Bains W, Ranjan S, Rimmer PB, Buchanan WP, Agrawal R, Mogul R, Carr CE. Astrobiological Potential of Venus Atmosphere Chemical Anomalies and Other Unexplained Cloud Properties. ASTROBIOLOGY 2024; 24:343-370. [PMID: 38452176 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2022.0060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/09/2024]
Abstract
Long-standing unexplained Venus atmosphere observations and chemical anomalies point to unknown chemistry but also leave room for the possibility of life. The unexplained observations include several gases out of thermodynamic equilibrium (e.g., tens of ppm O2, the possible presence of PH3 and NH3, SO2 and H2O vertical abundance profiles), an unknown composition of large, lower cloud particles, and the "unknown absorber(s)." Here we first review relevant properties of the venusian atmosphere and then describe the atmospheric chemical anomalies and how they motivate future astrobiology missions to Venus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janusz J Petkowski
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Wroclaw, Poland
- JJ Scientific, Mazowieckie, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Sara Seager
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | - William Bains
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Sukrit Ranjan
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Department of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Paul B Rimmer
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK
| | - Weston P Buchanan
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
| | - Rachana Agrawal
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Rakesh Mogul
- California Polytechnic University, Pomona, California, USA
| | - Christopher E Carr
- School of Aerospace Engineering and School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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Abstract
Finding evidence of extraterrestrial life would be one of the most profound scientific discoveries ever made, advancing humanity into a new epoch of cosmic awareness. The Venus Life Finder (VLF) missions feature a series of three direct atmospheric probes designed to assess the habitability of the Venusian clouds and search for signs of life and life itself. The VLF missions are an astrobiology-focused set of missions, and the first two out of three can be launched quickly and at a relatively low cost. The mission concepts come out of an 18-month study by an MIT-led worldwide consortium.
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