The bold UK mission to find life in Venus’s toxic clouds

A new UK mission, VERVE, will search Venus’s clouds for signs of microbial life, challenging assumptions about where life can exist in our solar system.

A mysterious thing happened back in 2020. Astronomers detected phosphine in Venus' clouds, which on Earth is an indicator of life in environments like swamps.

However, it sounded a bit farfetched as Venus carries a reputation for lead melting, the atmosphere being rich in carbon dioxide and laced with sulfuric acid.

Fast forward five years, and a team of UK scientists from the University of Cardiff believes the signal wasn’t a fluke – and they’re planning to prove it with a dedicated mission to find life in the skies of Earth’s “evil twin.”

It’s a bold scientific plan to try and give more credence to what’s perhaps the most overlooked planet in our solar system.

Why Venus deserves a second look

The “hell planet” reputation refers to its surface – 450°C, which is 92 times more than the Earth's air pressure, combined with extreme heat – making it extremely hostile to life as we know it.

At around 50km altitude, conditions are mild and could support life as we know it, in what is known as a "habitable cloud layer."

Ammonia, which was detected alongside phosphine, shouldn't exist naturally in Venus's acidic clouds unless something constantly replenishes them.

“There are no known chemical processes for the production of either ammonia or phosphine,” lead researcher Jane Greaves explained, “so the only way to know for sure what is responsible for them is to go there.”

These gases are destroyed by sunlight, which explains why later studies only detected them at night.Sop

Inside the VERVE mission

VERVE is a CubeSat, meaning it’s small, but highly specialized for atmospheric chemistry.

It’s not the main mission – it will hitch a ride on ESA’s EnVision spacecraft and split off upon arrival.

Once detached, VERVE will independently sniff the atmosphere, collecting gas data at multiple layers.

Its goal is clarity: are these gases from volcanoes, chemical processes, or possibly microbes?

Professor Greaves pointed out: “We want to know if these gases come from the surface, like volcanic activity, or if microbes in the clouds are producing them to survive the acidic environment.”

Researchers will compare gas ratios, like phosphine-to-sulfur, to known biological and chemical signatures.

What’s at stake?

Finding life on Venus would prove that life can thrive in extreme, non-Earth-like environments, expanding the range of places we look for life beyond Earth.

It would shift astrobiology’s focus from just Mars and Earth-like exoplanets to harsh worlds like Venus, Titan, and icy moons with subsurface oceans.

The discovery also raises urgent ethical questions about preventing contamination and protecting potential native ecosystems on Venus.