Habitable Pockets in Venus' Clouds tagged posts

Could Acid-Neutralizing Life-forms make Habitable Pockets in Venus’ Clouds?

Artist’s conception of the aerial biosphere in the cloud layers of Venus’ atmosphere. In this picture, hypothetical microbial life in the clouds of Venus resides inside protective cloud particles and is carried by winds around the planet.
Credits:Figure credit: J. Petkowska

It’s hard to imagine a more inhospitable world than our closest planetary neighbor. With an atmosphere thick with carbon dioxide, and a surface hot enough to melt lead, Venus is a scorched and suffocating wasteland where life as we know it could not survive. The planet’s clouds are similarly hostile, blanketing the planet in droplets of sulfuric acid caustic enough to burn a hole through human skin.

And yet, a new study supports the longstanding idea that if life exists, it might make a home in Venus’ clouds...

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