LONDON/MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th September, 2020) The Venera-D probe, in works by Russia and the United States with the goal of sending a mission to Venus, will focus its attention on searching for life forms in this planet's atmosphere pursuant to the discovery of phosphine gas in it, Lyudmila Zasova, the co-lead of the probe's research group, told Sputnik on Monday.
Earlier in the day, a group of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cardiff University published a study in the Nature journal, in which they said they had found traces of phosphine (PH3) � an explosive and toxic gas � in Venus' planetary atmosphere, suggesting possible presence of life forms on the closest planet to our Earth.
"PH3 could originate from unknown photochemistry or geochemistry, or, by analogy with biological production of PH3 on Earth, from the presence of life," the abstract of the study read.
Speaking at a press conference in London, the group's lead, Jane Greaves of Cardiff University, was asked if the scientists considered cooperating with Russia, which is currently developing the Venera-D project. She replied in the affirmative, recalling the Soviet Union's significant contribution to the study of Venus by its 1985 Vega-1 mission, which Greaves said by now was the only lander experiment to inform scientists.
Sputnik spoke to Zasova to find out more about the discovery and its likely impact on space science and practice.
"The observations are reliable. There are two sources of phosphine on Earth. One is industrial and the other is microbes. They live without oxygen and release phosphine. What the spectrum [from the published study] shows is reliable and clear. It means that they did not find a non-biological source on Venus, and if it is a biological source, then that source is microorganisms," Zasova said.
At the same time, the scientists called for more verification studies with the use of more equipment to rule out that the phosphine on Venus came from a non-biological source.
Asked how the discovery of biomarkers on Venus would affect the Venera-D project's activities, Zasova said "I think that more attention will be drawn to scientific instruments on the balloon probe."
"We have a balloon probe that changes altitude. In principle, it is equipped with a microscope, among other instruments. We will put an emphasis on this remit," the scientist added.
The US-Russian mission is set to depart to Venus in the period from 2027 to 2029. It will include an orbiter and a lander that will collect samples from the planet's extra-hot surface and explore its atmosphere.
