Was There Once Life on Venus?

Photo: NASA Venus, thrust into the spotlight by the Venus Express satellite Of our two planetary neighbors, Mars was always the favored child, making headlines year after year as scientists alternately bolstered and debunked claims of its habitability Meanwhile, !enus sat idly by " gaseous and fuming, nothing but a bright #star# in the early morning and evening skies $ut all that might be about to change %or the last four and a half years, the !enus &'press satellite has been gathering data that suggests that, at one time, the gassy planet may have supported li(uid water

Photo: Petar Mar)anovic Venus and Earth are perhaps more similar than scientists once thought *oday, !enus is an oppressive and stormy place +ith an ambient temperature hot enough to melt lead, surface pressure comparable to the depths of &arth,s oceans, and an atmosphere composed mainly of carbon dio'ide and sulfuric acid, !enus is an inconceivably inhospitable place for life to thrive -owever, this was not always the case *he !enus &'press satellite has detected large amounts of hydrogen and o'ygen escaping into space from the !enusian atmosphere. more specifically, two molecules of hydrogen for every one molecule of o'ygen Sound familiar/ 0t should 1i(uid water, or -2O, shares this e'act ratio and evaporates into its constituent gases when struck by 3! light from the sun 4urrent research implies that most of this water was probably atmospheric, but it does not rule out the possibility of ancient oceans on the !enus, surface +ater is thought to be a crucial ingredient for the evolution of carbon"based life forms, making the e'istence of standing water on !enus at some point in history appealing to astrobiologists studying the origin of life in the solar system