Life on Venus: Will NASA Make This Possible on Earth's Twin Planet?

NASA has recently selected two missions it called the DAVINCI+ and VERITAS missions, to find out the possibility of life on Venus.

A ScienceAlert report said each of the two missions would receive around US$500 million for the development, and both are expected for launch between 2028 and 2030.

It had long been believed there was no life on the said planet because of its extremely high temperatures. However, in late 2020, scientists examining the atmosphere of Venus announced the surprising yet, the somehow controversial finding of "phosphine." On this planet, this chemical is generated mainly by living organisms.

The news ignited renewed interest in what's described in Space.com as the "twin" of Earth, prompting the space agency to plan and develop state-of-the-art missions to look more closely at Venus's planetary environment, which could provide a clue to life-bearing settings.

Environments for Life

Ever since the revelation of the Hubble Space Telescope of the total number of nearby galaxies, astronomers have turned obsessed with the quest for exoplanets in other star systems, specifically those that appear habitable.

However, there are specific criteria for a planet to be regarded as a habitable one. It needs to have an appropriate temperature, atmospheric pressure the same as the Earth's and available water.

Incidentally, perhaps, Venus would hot have attracted much attention if it were outside the Earth's Solar System. It skies are filled with thick clouds of sulfuric acid, which is hazardous for humans; the land is then a deserted backdrop of nonexistent volcanoes, and 90 percent of the surface is covered with flows of red hot lava.

Earth-Like Conditions

Despite such an occurrence, NASA will search Venus for the environmental conditions that may have once backed life.

Specifically, any evidence that the said planet may have once had an ocean would change all the planet's existing models.

Interestingly too, conditions on Venus are quite less harsh, at a height of approximately 50 kilometers on top of the surface.

In reality, the pressure at these higher altitudes is easing so much that environments are turning out to be more Earth-like, with breathable air, not to mention balmy temperatures. If life, in the microbes' form, does take place on Venus, this, perhaps, is where it would be discovered.

The DAVINCI Mission

The Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Nobel gases, Chemistry, and Imaging or DAVINCI mission of NASA comprises numerous goals relating to the origin and evolution of the atmosphere, atmospheric structure and surface interaction and surface properties.

The said findings could shed light on how Earth and Venus started similarly and then deviated in their evolution.

Essentially, the DAVINCI+ spacecraft, upon entry on Venus, will drop a spherical probe filled with sensitive instruments through the atmosphere of the planet.

In its descent, the probe is set to sample the air, continuously measuring the atmosphere as it drops and taking the measurements back to the revolving spacecraft.

The probe will take a mass spectrometer, which can measure the different molecules' mass in a sample. This will be used to identify any noble gases or other traces of gases in the atmosphere of Venus.

The VERITAS Mission

NASA's Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography and Spectroscopy mission is designed to map surface features to identify the geologic history and understand further the reason it developed so different to this planet, as specified in a similar The Verge report.

Historical geology offers essential information about prehistoric changes in climate, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Such data can be used to expect the future events' possible size and frequency.

This mission will seek as well, to understand the internal geodynamics that shaped the planet. Meaning, there can be a picture of the continental plate movements of Venus and compare it with this planet's.

Related information is shown on CNET Highlights' YouTube video below:

Check out more news and information on Venus in Science Times.