Are Dark Streaks In Venus' Clouds Signs Of Aliens? NASA, Roscosmos Want To Explore

Does life exist on Venus? The answer to the question is not known at the moment. But the prospect is intriguing enough for scientists from the American space agency, NASA, and Russian space agency, Rosmoscos, to work on a new mission for Venus, called Venera-D. One of the proposed goals for the mission would be to search for alien life, albeit in microbial form.

According to Space.com, if the joint mission of NASA and Roscosmos is approved, then an orbiter will be launched for Venus in 2025. The aim of the mission will be to conduct remote-sensing observations of the second planet from the Sun and its atmosphere. Subsequently, the probe will deploy a lander on the surface of Venus and look for future landing sites. Additionally, the probable Venera-D mission to Venus could also include a small sub-orbiter to study the planet's magnetosphere, and either an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or a balloon could take measurements of the atmosphere over a long period.

The thick, sulfuric-acid clouds of Venus have dark streaks that seem to absorb ultraviolet radiation and could be evidence of microbial life. However, astronomers do not know how the dark streaks originated or what are they composed of. Also, neither is it clear why the streaks have not mixed with the atmosphere or absorbing ultraviolet light.

"These are questions that have not been fully explored yet, and I'm shouting as loud as I can, saying that we need to explore them," said Sanjay Limaye, an atmospheric scientist and a former chair of NASA's Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG), according to Astrobiology. Microbial life is "a possibility we can't overlook."

Other explanations for the dark streaks in the atmospheric clouds of Venus could be particulate matter mixed in it, or a substance dissolved by sulfuric acid droplets, or the presence of iron chloride. However, according to the scientific community, finding life at high altitude in the atmosphere of Venus would make sense, because microbes have been found at similar heights in planet Earth's atmosphere.