The discovery of significant sources of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus made a huge splash last year. They claimed at the time that the odorless and odorless gas could be a sign of life as it is often the result of organic matter breaking down here on Earth.
The hypothesis that clouds on the planet could harbor life forms that are resistant to the caustic droplets of sulfuric acid surrounding them is still a bit of a stretch.
Other scientists have thrown cold water on the hypothesis, saying that a processing error could throw the data into question.
MIT scientists say that the theory of sulphur acid being mitigated by the presence of ammonia is still valid.
They say that Ammonia could turn Venus' clouds into a hospitable place.
The researchers wrote in their paper that life could be making its own environment on Venus.
The model predicts that the clouds may be inhabited.
The authors suggest that the ammonia gas could be the result of biological processes, instead of lightning or volcanic eruptions.
Sara Seager, a planetary sciences professor at MIT, said in a press release that the environment on Venus is very acidic, but life is able to counteract some of the droplets.
It is an intriguing conclusion, but nothing short of sending a probe into Venus' atmosphere will confirm the hypothesis.
NASA and the European Space Agency are both planning to send their own spaceships to our closest planetary neighbor within the next ten to fifteen years.
There could be pockets of life in Venus' clouds.
Spacecraft Whipping Past Brightly-Lit Venus is a video.
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