Venus and life

Scientists said they have detected in the harshly acidic clouds of Venus a gas called phosphine that indicates microbes may inhabit Earth’s inhospitable neighbor, a tantalizing sign of potential life beyond Earth.

Scientists have detected in the harshly acidic clouds of Venus a gas called phosphine that indicates microbes may inhabit Venus.
Phosphine – a phosphorus atom with three hydrogen atoms attached – is highly toxic to people.
On Earth, phosphine is produced by bacteria thriving in oxygen-starved environments (anaerobic conditions). The international scientific team first spotted the phosphnie using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii and confirmed it using the ALMA radio telescope in Chile.

A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to receive radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky.
Unlike optical telescopes, radio telescopes can be used in the daytime as well as at night.

About Venus

Venus is Earth’s closest planetary neighbour. Similar in structure but slightly smaller than Earth, it is the second planet from the sun.
Venus is wrapped in a thick, toxic atmosphere that traps in heat. Surface temperatures reach a scorching 880 degrees Fahrenheit (471 degrees Celsius), hot enough to melt lead.
European Space Agency’s mission, Venus Express, found signs of ozone, made of three oxygen atoms and considered a biomarker, in the upper atmosphere of Venus, in 2011

Shukrayaan-1 is a proposed orbiter to Venus by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to study the surface and atmosphere of Venus using GSLV Mark III.
The three broad research areas of interest for this mission include a) surface/subsurface features and re-surfacing processes; b) study the atmospheric chemistry, dynamics and compositional variations, and c) study the atmospheric interaction with solar radiation and solar wind.
Shukrayaan-1 could confirm the presence of active volcanoes on Venus.

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