2020 in review: The hunt for life on Venus continues Image of fairy penguins watching Melbourne lights wins photo prize (Three smaller probes also dropped from Pioneer 13 without parachutes.) NASA discovered evidence of life on Venus in 1978, a scientist has claimed.. As such, after consulting with my co-authors, we identified the initial scientific articles, and promptly started searching for phosphorous compounds.". The search for life in our solar system got a lot more exciting this week. Another group reached decades into the past and found a potential signal for phosphine, buried in data from a NASA mission that started studying Venus in 1978. The detection was a landmark within the long look for life elsewhere within the scheme, which has mostly focused attention on Mars and some moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn. But now, digging through archival NASA data, Rakesh Mogul, a biochemist at Cal Poly Pomona in California, and colleagues have found a touch of phosphine picked up by Pioneer 13 — an inquiry that reached Venus in December 1978. "We believe this to be a sign of chemistries not yet discovered," they wrote, "and/or chemistries potentially favorable always.". And that’s not all. VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy) – this spacecraft would orbit Venus and map its surface with radar. ALIENS could be living in the clouds of planet Venus, a Nasa-backed study says. Mogul suspects that in the initial analysis of the LNMS data performed in the 1980s, scientists prioritized those molecules already thought to exist in the Venusian atmosphere. If the presence of the gas can be confirmed, researchers would be forced to grapple with its origins—including the possibility that it is being produced by some form of single-celled life floating in the planet’s clouds. NASA has said it may choose one or two of the missions. When scientists first described the LNMS leads to the 1970s, they didn't discuss phosphorus-based compounds like phosphine, focusing instead on other chemicals. The discovery, published to the arXiv database Sept. 22 and not yet peer-reviewed, doesn't tell researchers much beyond what was reported in Nature Astronomy — though it does make the presence of phosphine (made of a phosphorus atom and three hydrogens) even more certain, they said. What's needed, they wrote, is further, sustained exploration of Venus. The phosphine is at an abundance in the atmosphere – specifically the region of the atmosphere where the temperatures and pressures are quite Earth-like – that makes it difficult, so far anyway, to explain by any known … Data from an old NASA mission to our sister planet may contain overlooked evidence for the gas phosphine, a potential biosignature. Venus spins slowly in the opposite direction of most planets. (Image: © NASA) If life does exist on Venus, NASA may have first detected it back in 1978. A probe that was sent to Venus back in 1978 returned readings that showed the presence of … But the finding went unnoticed for 42 years. Meet NASA's latest Mars Rover: Will Perseverance find life in 2021? Life on Venus continues to be an extended shot. And Sanjay Limaye of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, who is a co-author of Mogul’s preprint paper, says old data from the Soviet Venera probes—while unlikely to have been sensitive enough to detect phosphine—may contain evidence for atomic phosphorus, which could hint at the presence of molecular phosphine, too. But there's reason to require the concept seriously. Not everyone is convinced. Although the space agency has ignored Venus since its Magellan mission in the 1990s that mapped its surface, NASA now has … Two of the next four candidate missions for NASA’s Discovery Program are focused on Venus, as is Europe’s EnVision mission, in which NASA is a partner. Mogul and his coauthors were broadly aware of the information from the missions, he said. No human has visited Venus, but the spacecraft that have been sent to the surface of Venus do not last very long there. In the LNMS data, one could easily overlook the subtle evidence of the molecules’ presence—especially if that person did not conduct a targeted search. Potential signs of life on Venus are fading as astronomers downgrade their original claims. Potential signs of life on Venus are fading as astronomers downgrade their original claims. "When the [Nature Astronomy paper] came out, I immediately thought of the legacy mass spectra," Mogul told Live Science. LNMS wasn't built to hunt phosphine-like compounds and would have had a tough time distinguishing the gas from other molecules that have similar masses. And the atmosphere is heavily composed of sulfuric acid, which blocks out the Sun and leads to acid rainstorms on the surface of the planet. ( Two of the next four candidate missions for NASA’s Discovery Program are focused on Venus, as is Europe’s EnVision mission, in which NASA is a partner. An image shows how Pioneer-13's Large Probe, which carried the LNMS, may need to look at because it plunged through Venus's clouds. "So, for us, it absolutely was a natural next step to convey the information another look. Our neighbor’s atmosphere harbors evidence of a gas associated with living things. Meanwhile, Venus, hot and poisonous, was long considered too inhospitable for all the world to survive. Venus was the first planet ever visited by a spacecraft, when NASA's Mariner 2 flew by in 1962. It comes as British scientists revealed that life could be producing an Earth-like gas in Venus' clouds . In other words, it would mean the newly detected phosphine “wasn’t just one weird event that we managed to catch,” she says. Jan. 31, 2019: A Japanese research group has identified a giant streak structure among the clouds covering Venus based on observation from the spacecraft Akatsuki.The team also revealed the origins of this structure using large-scale climate simulations. When Mogul's team reexamined the LNMS data from Venus' lower and middle clouds (a potentially habitable zone on the planet), they found signals that look a good deal like phosphine, the researchers wrote. Distance from the sun: About 67 million miles, about 3/4 as far as the Earth is from the sun. Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at, atmospheric probes that can directly sniff out the gas, evidence suggests the presence of phosphine, Alien Hunters Discover Mysterious Signal from Proxima Centauri, Asteroid Dust from Hayabusa2 Could Solve a Mystery of Planet Creation, Fresh Data from Gaia Galaxy Survey Gives Best Map Ever of the Milky Way. Meet NASA's latest Mars Rover: Will Perseverance find life in 2021? Life on Venus is still a long shot. NASA ponders two Venusian probes; ... “The probability of there ever having been life on Venus has skyrocketed,” Dyar said, referring to research on the longevity of Venusian oceans. 3 Scientists discover a material that can store solar energy for months, even years. If life does exist on Venus, NASA may have first detected it back in 1978. Venus also is a planetary destination we can reach with smaller missions. The search for extraterrestrial life has largely focused on Mars, but scientists at MIT, Cardiff University, and elsewhere reported surprising findings in September of what may be signs of life in the clouds of Venus. “So something’s making it.” The question would be: What? Our neighbor’s atmosphere harbors evidence of a gas associated with living things. Before that mission, scientists could only peer at its … Venus was the first planet ever visited by a spacecraft, when NASA's Mariner 2 flew by in 1962. By Paul Voosen Nov. 17, 2020 , 2:50 PM. In fact, NASA in July launched a next-generation rover to look for traces of potential past life on Mars. “We were able to extract some data from the literature from about 40 years ago,” says Mogul, whose team recently posted its findings on the preprint server arXiv.org. Venus should not be able to make phosphine without life. And some of them could potentially look for phosphine. Researchers poring over archives from previous missions to Venus claim that NASA may have first detected phosphine signatures (indicating potential microbial life) back in 1978, and they just went unnoticed for the past 42 years. To double-check the detection, scientists are eager for more data, either from large telescopes or entirely new interplanetary missions. Venus phosphine find: Unexplained gas hints at potential for alien life. NASA / AFP - Getty Images file. Still, Limaye says, “somebody probably has some records.”. -ed.]. But the finding went unnoticed for 42 years. “If these measurements are real, [phosphine has] been around [on Venus] for 40 years,” Mogul says. ESO/M. hide. British and American astronomers last month announced they had found the chemical - a sign of life - in its atmosphere. The 1978 data was produced by the Large Probe Neutral Mass Spectrometer (LNMS) instrument which descended into Venus' extremely inhospitable atmosphere via parachute in December 1978. Life on Venus? An unexpected discovery in the clouds of Venus has scientists buzzing. "It's tremendously exciting," said David Grinspoon, senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute. ALIENS could be living in the clouds of planet Venus, a Nasa-backed study says. This has relevance for assessing the exobiological potential of extrasolar Venus-like greenhouse planets. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the universe. “We are currently trying to get permission for one of our folks to go in to digitize that microfilm, as we have already received inquiries about it. Post Comments Mogul and his colleagues also found hints of other chemicals that shouldn't arise naturally in Venus' clouds — substances like chlorine, oxygen, and peroxide. (A "fully oxidizing environment" wouldn't include phosphine or most other chemicals seen as signs of life.). Researchers claim simple microbial life forms might exist in the upper atmosphere of the world dubbed Earth’s evil tw… 2020 in review: The hunt for life on Venus continues Image of fairy penguins watching Melbourne lights wins photo prize Venus may have had a shallow liquid-water ocean and habitable surface temperatures for up to 2 billion years of its early history, according to computer modeling of the planet’s ancient climate by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. “People discounted [these molecules] because they thought there was no way” they were present in the atmosphere, Mogul says. Space breakthrough: Life on Venus 'first detected 42 years ago' SPACE scientists first detected signs of alien life on Venus in 1978, archived NASA data suggests. Several spacecraft are set to fly past Venus soon: Europe and Japan’s BepiColombo spacecraft, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and Europe’s Solar Orbiter. by . Data from an old NASA mission to our sister planet may contain overlooked evidence for the gas phosphine, a … [On Monday, scientific research was published showing phosphine, a possible signature of life, present in the atmosphere of Venus.The following is NASA ’s announcement related to this discovery. The group was led by Project Assistant Professor Hiroki Kashimura (Kobe University, Gradu… Potential sign of alien life detected on inhospitable Venus. We may have already discovered the essence of life on Mars 40 years ago, according to a former NASA scientist. NASA and also the European, Indian and Russian space agencies have plans for Venus probes that may be helpful, he said. Unfortunately, although a physical copy of this information is stored in the NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, access to the archive is currently restricted because of COVID-19. Biochemist Rakesh Mogul said a probe picked up signs of phosphine during the Pioneer 13 mission to the 463C planet. 8 hours ago — Marin Langlieb | Opinion, December 19, 2020 — Kathryn G. Schubert | Opinion, December 18, 2020 — Jonathan O'Callaghan and Lee Billings, December 18, 2020 — Robin Lloyd | Opinion, Scientific American Space & Physics is a roundup of the most important stories about the universe and beyond. On the biggest of Pioneer’s probes, an instrument called the Large Probe Neutral Mass Spectrometer (LNMS) looked for gases in the atmosphere, with mission scientists focusing on molecules such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and argon that were known to be abundant there. The search for life elsewhere in the solar system has until now not focused on Venus. After speeding through space for 123 days, NASA’s Pioneer Venus 2 mission finally reaches its destination: Venus. Atom Improving the efficiency of solar cells can make a huge difference to the amount of energy produced from the same surface area and the same... Feasts are rare on the barren landscape of the ocean depths. Temperatures on Venus can get up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit. A NASA Probe May Have Found Signs of Life on Venus 40 Years Ago. But Pioneer 13's sample did have evidence of some molecule present within the gas that had the identical mass as phosphine — in amounts that match the amount described within the Nature Astronomy paper. But, just maybe, the clinching evidence will actually come from Earthly archives of missions past, where it has been awaiting recognition for nearly a half-century. Venus: The Basics Venus is a dim world of intense heat and volcanic activity. British and American astronomers last month announced they had found the chemical - a sign of life - in its atmosphere. ESO/M. So far, Mogul and his collaborators have only been able to access a snippet of information from the mission, corresponding to altitudes between 50 and 60 kilometers above Venus. The scientists also found definitive evidence for atoms of phosphorus within the atmosphere, which likely came from a heavier gas like phosphine. Although Venus is easier to reach than Mars, scientists and space agencies around the world show little interest in exploring the planet. The probe, however, actually took data from an altitude of 90 kilometers all the way down to the surface of the planet. The possibility of life on Venus is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to its proximity and similarities to Earth.To date, no definitive proof has been found of past or present life on Venus.Theories have decreased significantly since the early 1960s, when spacecraft began studying the planet and it became clear that its environment is extreme compared to Earth's. While efforts to confirm the finding via observations from Earth or even fortuitously planned spacecraft flybys are underway, archived data from a decades-old NASA mission to Venus may have been hiding much sought-after verification in plain sight—with potentially more revelations to come. Life on Venus - NASA/ADS A fundamental question in exobiology remains the degree to which habitats on Venus, past and present, were, or are suitable for life. The phrase "heat-stable" is vital, given the planet's habit of killing any robot that lands on its sizzling hot surface. How Sea Butterflies Zip Through the Water, Russia Approves 'Sputnik V' Covid-19 Vaccine, 'Naked' shark was born without skin or teeth in world first, Vikings may not have been blonde, or Scandinavian, First Evidence of Ancient Egyptian Head Cones, Tiny Virus-eaters Might Lurk In the Ocean. Clara Sousa-Silva spent most of 2020 sitting on a huge secret – the apparent detection of phosphine, a potential sign of life, on Venus. This compound of phosphorus and hydrogen could be associated with life. Traces of phosphine gas detected in the clouds above Venus, seen here in an image taken by NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft — could be an indication that the planet supports microbial life NASA could soon send a probe to Venus to study the atmosphere – hunting for alien life. The search for life elsewhere in the solar system has until now not focused on Venus. “They were interested in the bulk properties of the atmosphere and how those properties change as you go up and down at altitude,” he says. Life on Venus continues to be an extended shot. This has relevance for assessing the exobiological potential of extrasolar Venus-like greenhouse planets. But such missions are not futuristic flights of fancy—they have, in fact, been launched before, with notable examples including the former Soviet Union’s long series of Venera spacecraft and NASA’s Pioneer Venus Multiprobe, a mission that dropped four probes into the planet’s atmosphere in December 1978. Kornmesser & Nasa… by . NASA chief says Venus is 'one stop in our search for life' New research has revealed presence of a rare molecule in the clouds of Venus By James Rogers | Fox News Similar in structure and size to Earth, Venus' thick, toxic atmosphere traps heat in a runaway 'greenhouse effect.' NASA discovered evidence of life on Venus in 1978, a scientist has claimed.. There is speculation about life existing in Venus' distant past, as well as questions about the possibility of life in the top cloud layers of Venus' atmosphere, where the temperatures are less extreme. 1 Back to Venus: Rocket Lab looks to beat NASA in search for life on Venus, other worlds. But the finding went unnoticed for 42 years. High in the toxic atmosphere of the planet Venus, astronomers on Earth have discovered signs of what might be life. On Sept. 14, a team of scientists made a bombshell announcement within the journal Nature Astronomy: Using telescopes, they'd detected phosphine, a toxic gas long proposed as a possible sign of alien microbial life, within the upper a part of the planet's thick atmosphere. Instruments such as the LNMS identify molecules by measuring their speed as they impact a detector, enabling their mass to be calculated. NASA found the clues to life on Venus almost four decades ago but never realized it. Rocket Lab's plan to search for life on Venus in 2023 just got more exciting By Mike Wall 16 September 2020 The 2023 life-hunting mission will be just the beginning, if all goes according to plan. NASA: Scientist says possible discovery of life on Venus needs further study sergeitomakov / Pixabay Tuesday, September 22, 2020 8:42 AM UTC In this narrative, life emerged on Earth, Venus and Mars back when all three worlds were flush with water. Venus also is a planetary destination we can reach with smaller missions. “If, indeed, phosphine is there, and it is a sign of life, then this would be a way of starting to piece together a biosphere,” says Clara Sousa-Silva of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who is a co-author of the paper that reported the discovery. The apparent discovery of phosphine in the Venusian atmosphere has been both widely heralded and greeted with caution. But there's reason to require the concept seriously. Furthermore, he says, if the LNMS detection is genuine, it suggests a much higher abundance of the gas than Sousa-Silva’s team found—so much higher, in fact, that it would be incompatible with the mere traces suggested by the recent discovery. NASA chief calls for prioritizing Venus after surprise find hints at alien life. The discovery is not yet peer-reviewed and doesn't really add much detail we don't already know to the 'life on Venus' story, but it does somewhat solidify the recently-reported discovery. "This can be from orbital probes, balloon-suspended probes within the clouds, and/or heat-stable lander probes.". He notes, however, that the whereabouts of much of those data is unknown. "However, when considering the past, current, and future habitability of Venus, we might need longer-term chemical and geology studies to grasp the sources of any potential chemical [anomalies] within the clouds," he said. High in the toxic atmosphere of the planet Venus, astronomers on Earth have discovered signs of what might be life. We understand life as it exists here on Earth, but life on Venus could be something really at odds with everything we know. Another group reached decades into the past and found a potential signal for phosphine, buried in data from a NASA mission that started studying Venus in 1978. If Mogul and his colleagues have correctly interpreted the Pioneer data, Zolotov says, “we’d expect a much higher concentration of phosphine than measured by astronomers, which is also a red flag.”. The 1978 data comes from the big Probe Neutral spectroscope (LNMS), one in all several instruments that descended into Venus' atmosphere as a part of the Pioneer 13 mission. Jennifer Chu archive page; December 18, 2020. Upon hearing the news, Mogul and his co-authors went back to the studies released decades ago following the 1978 Pioneer 13 mission. After taking another look at the data, however, Rakesh Mogul, a professor of biological chemistry at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, posits that scientists on the mission underestimated their instrument, which may have spotted trace amounts of other molecules—including, excitingly, phosphine. On Sept. 14, a team of scientists made a bombshell announcement within the journal Nature Astronomy: Using telescopes, they'd detected phosphine, a toxic gas long proposed as a possible sign of alien microbial life… Earlier this month scientists announced the surprising discovery of phosphine on Venus. "We need a more sustained approach for exploration like that of Mars," Mogul said. The scientists involved aren’t claiming proof of life on Venus, but the gas is a potential biosignature. The planet Venus in a composite of data from NASA's Magellan spacecraft and Pioneer Venus Orbiter. An image shows how Pioneer 13's large probe, which carried the LNMS, might have looked as it plunged through Venus's clouds. But there's reason to require the concept seriously. Venus' high surface temperatures overheat electronics in spacecraft in a short time, so it seems unlikely that a person could survive for long on the Venusian surface. In fact, NASA in July launched a next-generation rover to look for traces of potential past life on Mars. This is something we never thought possible. The sensitivity of the LNMS instrument may have detected more molecules than thought, however, including phosphine. With luck, we may be able to start on it this week.”, Other archived data could prove useful, too. 6 The LNMS sampled the atmosphere and ran those samples through mass spectrometry, a typical lab technique accustomed to identify unknown chemicals. It took a bombshell announcement—and more than 40 years—to discern what may have been awaiting discovery in that information all along. 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