The Venus Life Equation
Noam R. Izenberg, Diana M. Gentry, David J. Smith, Martha S. Gilmore,, David Grinspoon, Mark A. Bullock, Penelope J. Boston, Grzegorz P. Slowik

TL;DR
The paper introduces the Venus Life Equation, a model to estimate the likelihood of extant life on Venus based on origination, robustness, and continuity, suggesting life could plausibly exist there today.
Contribution
It presents a new theoretical framework, the Venus Life Equation, to assess the probability of current life on Venus using environmental and astrobiological factors.
Findings
Probability of life origination on Venus similar to Earth
Other factors like robustness and continuity are likely nonzero
Identifies key unknowns for future Venus exploration
Abstract
Ancient Venus and Earth may have been similar in crucial ways for the development of life, such as liquid water oceans, land-ocean interfaces, favorable chemical ingredients and energy pathways. If life ever developed on, or was transported to, early Venus from elsewhere, it might have thrived, expanded and then survived the changes that have led to an inhospitable surface on Venus today. The Venus cloud layer may provide a refugium for extant life that persisted from an earlier more habitable surface environment. We introduce the Venus Life Equation - a theory and evidence-based approach to calculate the probability of extant life on Venus, L, using three primary factors of life: Origination, Robustness, and Continuity, or L = O x R x C. We evaluate each of these factors using our current understanding of Earth and Venus environmental conditions from the Archaean to the present. We…
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