Extraterrestrial

Dark streaks on Venus could be alien microbes

By T.K. Randall
January 12, 2017 ·  28 comments

Venus is a planet shrouded in an extremely thick cloud layer. Image Credit: NASA With its extreme surface temperature and crushing atmospheric pressure, Venus might seem like the last place to look for extraterrestrial life within our own solar system.

A series of mysterious dark streaks observed in the planet's atmosphere however, which some scientists believe could be evidence of microbial organisms, could be set to change all that.

Both Russia and the US are hoping to join forces to launch a new exploratory mission to Venus to help unlock the secrets of this mysterious world as well as to investigate the possibility that these peculiar dark streaks are home to the first known examples of extraterrestrial life.Such a mission is likely to include an orbiter and a lander and could launch by 2025.

"I cannot say that there is microbial life in Venus' clouds," said atmospheric scientist Sanjay Limaye from the University of Wisconsin. "But that doesn't mean it's not there either."

"The only way to learn is to go there and sample the atmosphere."

Source: Phys.org | Comments (28)

Tags: Venus, Clouds