In September 2020, a group of American scientists allegedly reported the discovery of signs of phosphine in the upper atmosphere of Venus. Terrestrial microorganisms secrete this substance and hope seemed to be glimmering somewhere., These organisms do not need oxygen for life. This news became just a “bombshell” – a sensation, but only before another group of scientists did not point out an error in the study.
In the not too distant future, space probes will help us with some questions, including life in the clouds of Venus, but for now scientists are looking for an answer to this question in modeling chemical processes.
A group of scientists from the University of Cambridge investigated three possible metabolic schemes, during which microorganisms in the clouds of Venus could use the sulfur dioxide (SO2) found there with the release of by-products of vital activity. The chemical composition of the atmosphere of Venus has been studied more than once with the help of spectrometers and is approximately known. The simulation made it possible to calculate the volume of these putative metabolic products and compare them with the detected one. Calculations have shown that the actually observed concentrations of “metabolic” substances do not reach the level of probable microbial life in the clouds of Venus. There is no life there, British scientists say.
Oddly enough, the recently launched James Webb space telescope can help in the search for signs of microbial life in the clouds of Venus, it is still working in test mode, but it will be operational soon. This telescope “James Webb” is able to catch even an asteroid flying through the Solar system in its “eyes”, and its spectrometers will easily reveal the molecular composition of both distant stars and the atmosphere of Venus.
We are waiting impatiently for news from the near space
