The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) commented on the sensational statements of a Russian scientist that there is life on Venus. The strange objects depicted in the photographs 30 years ago can be explained quite simply, experts say
The strange disc is supposedly a piece from the lens cap
Recently, a researcher at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Leonid Ksanfomality, well known in the scientific world, published an article "by way of discussion" in which he gave evidence of the possible presence of relatively intelligent life forms on Venus. The scientist recalled that in the 1970s and 1980s, Soviet scientists carried out a number of successful missions to explore Venus, which resulted in the first ever photographs of the planet's surface.
In nine panoramas from Venera 13 transmitted in 1982, the Russian specialist discovered several objects that appear and disappear in a series of sequential images. In particular, Ksanfomality speaks of a "disc" that changes its shape, a "black patch" that appeared in the first image near the cone to measure the mechanical properties of the soil and disappeared later. And also about the "scorpion", which appeared about 90 minutes after the cameras were turned on, and after 26 minutes disappeared, leaving a groove in the ground in its place.
According to the Ksanfomality hypothesis, at first the lander made a loud noise - squibs were fired, the drilling rig was working. Some of the "inhabitants" of Venus left the dangerous area, but some of them (for example, the same "scorpion") were covered by the soil thrown out during landing, and they slowly got out of it, which explains the one and a half hour delay in their appearance.
"Scorpio"
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NASA gives its counter-arguments. Firstly, American experts note, the "disk" in the photo is just a camera lens cover that fell off the Soviet probe during landing. And the "disk" didn't really move.
“Venera-13 had two cameras: one in front, the other on the back. In one shot, we see a piece of the lens cap. On the other, it is not, since it was taken by a different camera. And the disk did not move, - quotes The Daily Mail the words of NASA specialist on photographic materials Ted Strick.
He is echoed by his colleague Jonathan Hill: "It is more like a piece of probe casing that came off when one of the research instruments started working." As for the rest of the objects that Ksanfomality speaks about, these are just noises "amplified" when copying a picture and enlarging a part of it.
In addition, the American Venusian mission, which was carried out in 1989-1992 by the spacecraft Magellan, did not find any signs of life on Venus. But then, pictures of almost 98% of the planet's surface were taken, and the quality of the photo was much higher than that of the Soviet probes of the Venus series, emphasize in NASA.
Note that since 2006 Venus has been observed by the Venus Express apparatus of the European Space Agency, but so far no information has been received from Europeans about the discovery of life on the planet. The main argument against the theory of the existence of protein forms of life on Venus is unbearable conditions. As you know, its atmosphere is almost entirely composed of carbon dioxide, and the pressure at the surface is about 93 atmospheres. In addition, Venus is very hot, with temperatures reaching 475 degrees Celsius.
"A real serious scientist" or "old madman"?
Some experts did not even hesitate to make harsh criticism of the respected Russian scientist. For example, on the website of The Planetary Society, a non-profit organization engaged in independent space exploration (or, rather, a discussion of other people's research), a note has been published in which Xanfomality is called almost an "old madman."
“I can't believe that such a respected scientist could publish something so meaningless. Different people give different explanations. Someone notes that Ksanfomality always thought on the verge of reality. Others are sure that if 30 years peer into old pictures, without having any more fresh data, then anyone will go crazy. I have seen more than once how people who are convinced of their correctness and genius go beyond all boundaries and believe that any crazy assumption is correct only because they are always right,”writes the young scientist Emilia Lacdavalla.
Russian scientists, nevertheless, tend not to rush to criticize Xanfomality and emphasize that any hypothesis has a right to exist.
"First of all, I would like to emphasize that Leonid Vasilyevich Ksanfomality is a real serious scientist who created instruments for the same missions to Venus, wrote several books on planetology," Alexander Bazilevsky, the head of the laboratory of the Institute of Geochemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Moskovsky Komsomolets. may or may not be confirmed … If some forms of life that can live at a pressure of 100 atmospheres were found at the bottom of the ocean, they have not yet found survivors in the 500-degree heat. The maximum temperature at which organisms known to science can live, that's plus 150 degrees Celsius. These are found in the mouth of underwater volcanoes."
As Ksanfomality himself notes in his article, many scientists are inherent in "earthly chauvinism", that is, the denial of even the possibility that some forms of life can exist under conditions absolutely unbearable at first glance. In any case, the discussion around his theory is clearly not closed, because the scientist promised to publish other materials obtained from the analysis of data from "Venus-13".