Venus Life Finder Mission Study

TL;DR

The Venus Life Finder Missions aim to investigate Venus' atmosphere for signs of habitability and life, focusing on unexplained chemical anomalies to address one of science's greatest mysteries.

Contribution

This study proposes a series of focused, cost-effective missions to explore Venus' atmosphere, building on past in situ probes and aiming to uncover potential signs of life and unknown chemistry.

Findings

Identification of atmospheric anomalies linked to habitability.

Potential detection of biosignatures like PH₃ and NH₃.

Advancement of private/public space exploration models.

Abstract

The Venus Life Finder Missions are a series of focused astrobiology mission concepts to search for habitability, signs of life, and life itself in the Venus atmosphere. While people have speculated on life in the Venus clouds for decades, we are now able to act with cost-effective and highly-focused missions. A major motivation are unexplained atmospheric chemical anomalies, including the "mysterious UV-absorber", tens of ppm O$_2$, SO$_2$ and H$_2$O vertical abundance profiles, the possible presence of PH$_3$ and NH$_3$, and the unknown composition of Mode 3 cloud particles. These anomalies, which have lingered for decades, might be tied to habitability and life's activities or be indicative of unknown chemistry itself worth exploring. Our proposed series of VLF missions aim to study Venus' cloud particles and to continue where the pioneering in situ probe missions from nearly four decades ago left off. The world is poised on the brink of a revolution in space science. Our goal is not to supplant any other efforts but to take advantage of an opportunity for high-risk, high-reward science, which stands to possibly answer one of the greatest scientific mysteries of all, and in the process pioneer a new model of private/public partnership in space exploration.