A form of life based on previously unknown biochemical principles may exist on a neighboring planet, scientists from the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the GK Boreskov Institute of Catalysis of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences suggest. New processing of panoramic images of the surface of Venus, obtained by the Soviet vehicles "Venera-9", "Venera-10", "Venera-13" and "Venera-14" in 1975-1982, showed in the images slowly moving objects with a stable structure.
"Mushrooms", "scorpions" and "lizards"
On the images of the surface of Venus, published in the latest issue of the journal "Uspekhi fizicheskikh nauk", objects with outlines resembling a stem, a scorpion, a mushroom, a lizard - 18 hypothetical creatures in total - are distinguishable. All of them have noticeable dimensions, morphological features that make it possible to distinguish them from geological formations, and change their location from image to image. So say the authors of the work Leonid Ksanfomality, Lev Zeleny, Valentin Parmon, Valery Snytnikov. Scientists suggest that the "creatures" in the images move independently, and not because of the strong wind - its speed near the surface, measured by the Venera spacecraft, corrected for the density of the Venus atmosphere, cannot be considered sufficient to move the objects under consideration. In addition, hypothetical creatures do not immediately enter the camera lens.but only some time after the start of data collection. This may indicate that they were covered with soil when the vehicle landed. For example, the "scorpion" (the researchers emphasize that the name is conditional, and does not pretend to correspond to the terrestrial analogue) took about an hour and a half to get out from under a centimeter blockage. This may indicate his low physical capabilities.
Panorama from the Venera-13 lander, which shows the alleged living object / L. V. Ksanfomality / * Astronomical Herald *.
The signs of hypothetical creatures in the images obtained by the Soviet vehicles "Venera-9", "Venera-10", "Venera-13" and "Venera-14" were first noticed by planetary scientist Leonid Ksanfomality from IKI RAS in 2012, when technologies of better quality appeared. image processing. Then the scientific community quite sharply opposed the scientist's argumentation, stating that strange objects on Venusian panoramas could arise when the signal was re-encoded. “The calculation showed that the probability of accidental occurrence of images of ordered structures due to radio noise is vanishingly small,” says the current article.
Not at all like earthly
The hypothesis of Russian scientists - no matter how fantastic it may seem - is based on the fact that alien life forms do not have to be similar to terrestrial ones. And, accordingly, the conditions necessary for their origin and maintenance may also differ from those we are accustomed to. Consequently, Venus, with an average annual temperature of about 460 degrees Celsius and a pressure of 90 bar, may well be inhabited, the researchers believe. Known polymers that are stable in an atmosphere of nitrogen and carbon dioxide at high temperatures and pressures. These are mainly various nitrogen compounds. Therefore, it can be assumed that nitrogen will be the main component of monomers for the synthesis of polymers, which means that Venusian life can be nitrogen as opposed to earthly carbon. According to astrophysicists from the Goddard Institute for Space Research (USA),life on Venus should be similar to that on earth. They calculated that about two billion years ago, the climate of this planet was similar to that of Earth. Its surface was covered with liquid oceans, the temperature reached a comfortable 15-17 degrees, and the inhabitants, most likely, were similar to terrestrial organisms.
Microbes in the clouds
Today, the most favorable conditions for the existence of terrestrial life on Venus are created by dense sulfuric acid clouds located in the high layers of the atmosphere. According to the data obtained from the Akatsuki probe, these accumulations of steam reflect and absorb ultraviolet rays in an unusual way, which cannot be explained by the presence of carbon dioxide or sulfur gases. In addition, in the clouds of Venus, rather mild temperatures reign, in the region of 60 degrees Celsius, there is water and potential food - sulfur compounds and carbon dioxide. For some microorganisms, this set is sufficient for a full life. For example, the terrestrial extremophile microbes living in Yellowstone can withstand temperatures up to 70 degrees and feed on CO₂, using it to oxidize sulfur and obtain energy, simultaneously releasing sulfuric acid. Something similar can happen in the atmosphere of Venus,suggest scientists from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
The authors of the article in Physics ± Uspekhi consider such a possibility unlikely, pointing out that the cloudy environment of Venus consists of micrometer droplets of sulfuric acid with a concentration of about 75 percent. Organisms that can survive in such an environment are still unknown to science.
Promotional video:
But bacteria living at high temperatures and pressures with a minimum amount of water exist on Earth. These are sulfur bacteria living under the seabed (Desulfuromonas, Desulfobacter, Beggiatoa), which do not need sunlight to synthesize organic matter. They could be used as a modal object in the study of biogeochemical processes in hypothetical Venusian life.
After 2025, the automatic interplanetary station "Venera-D" with a descent module will go to the planet. In a recent interview with RIA Novosti, the project leader Lyudmila Zasova, a leading researcher at the IKI RAS, noted that the search for hypothetical life forms on Venus is one of the main directions in the work of this mission.
Alfiya Enikeeva