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The US space agency Nasa sees the discovery of monophosphane gas on Venus as the biggest advance in the search for possible extraterrestrial life.
The discovery of this gas, which is associated with living organisms, is the most significant development yet in the search for evidence of life outside of Earth, writes NASA chief Jim Bridenstine on Twitter.
Bridenstine notes that ten years ago, NASA discovered microbial life forms about 36 kilometers above Earth in our planet’s upper atmosphere. But now is the time to prioritize Venus in the search for extraterrestrial life.
In our solar system, Venus is the second closest planet to the sun.
Keystone
A team of researchers had previously reported in the journal Nature Astronomy that they had discovered traces of monophosphane in the cloud cover of Venus. On land, flammable gas often comes from organic sources.
Scientists had explored the clouds over Venus with telescopes found in Hawaii and the Atacama Desert in Chile. But they emphasized that the discovery was not yet proof that life actually existed on Venus.
Conditions on Venus were not previously considered conducive to the existence of life. Temperatures on the planet can reach 500 degrees Celsius. The atmosphere of Venus is made up almost exclusively of carbon dioxide and therefore creates a strong greenhouse effect.
