The Breakthrough Initiatives project will fund a study to further the discovery of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus. Bio-signature expert Sara Seager will lead the research team.
On September 14, the Royal Astronomical Society announced an intriguing discovery:astronomers have indeed isolated the presence of phosphine in the clouds of Venus, at an altitude where temperatures and the pressures are similar to those recorded here at sea level on our planet. The announcement is particularly exciting since, on Earth, we know that phosphine can be produced by anaerobic bacteria. Incidentally, these molecules can also be synthesized in the laboratory, in particular to fight against pests.
Obviously, isolating the spectral signature of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus does not necessarily mean that extraterrestrial life has been discovered. If Venusian microbes could potentially produce these molecules, it's also possible that the substance is generated by exotic chemical reactions that we don't yet understand, and that have nothing to do with life.
The announcement is nevertheless important enough for the scientific world to take more interest in it. With this in mind, Project Breakthrough Initiatives, a search program for extraterrestrial life, will fund a study with the aim of exploring the discovery further and analyzing its potential implications.
This work will be led by MIT planetary scientist Sara Seager. She is also a member of the phosphine discovery team. She will be joined by Janusz Petkowski (from MIT), Chris Carr (Georgia Institute of Technology), Bethany Ehlmann (California Institute of Technology), David Grinspoon (planetary Science Institute), and Pete Klupar (chief engineer of the Breakthrough Initiatives program). .
“We are excited to push the boundaries to try to understand what kind of life might exist in Venus’ very harsh atmosphere” , said Pete Worden, executive director of the non-profit organization.
“Finding life anywhere beyond Earth would be truly memorable” , also pointed out billionaire Yuri Milner, who largely funds the Breakthrough Initiatives program “And while there is a non-negligible chance that it is right next to Venus, exploring this possibility is an urgent priority for our civilization” . However, the press release does not reveal the budget for this study, nor its duration.
So "the greatest scientific discovery in all of history" will have to wait a little longer. Because, as astronomer Carl Sagan said so well:"extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" .
To confirm the presence of a true bio-signature on Venus, we will first need to understand all the atmospheric processes on this planet, which are still poorly understood. We will also have to make sure that no other physico-chemical and geophysical process can also explain the presence of this phosphine. In other words, to prove that these molecules, on Venus, do indeed have a biological origin. In case of scientific consensus, we could then consider studying it in more detail, before confirming its presence.
It is obviously hard to imagine "earth-type" microbes evolving in the atmosphere of Venus. If these molecules were spotted at an altitude where the temperatures and pressures are relatively similar to those of Earth, remember that Venusian clouds are mainly composed of sulfuric acid. This particularly corrosive environment would likely quickly kill our microbes, "unless they were surrounded by some sort of protective shell" , explains Sara Seager.
But life on Venus, if it exists at all, might very well not be Earth-like, and not depend on water to survive .
