Venus Life Finder Habitability Mission: Motivation, Science Objectives, and Instrumentation by Sara Seager et al. on Monday 21 November
For over half a century, scientists have contemplated the potential existence
of life within the clouds of Venus. Unknown chemistry leaves open the
possibility that certain regions of the Venusian atmosphere are habitable. In
situ atmospheric measurements with a suite of modern instruments can determine
whether the cloud decks possess the characteristics needed to support life as
we know it. The key habitability factors are cloud particle droplet acidity and
cloud-layer water content. We envision an instrument suite to measure not only
the acidity and water content of the droplets (and their variability) but
additionally to confirm the presence of metals and other non-volatile elements
required for life's metabolism, verify the existence of organic material, and
search for biosignature gases as signs of life. We present an
astrobiology-focused mission, science goals, and instruments that can be used
on both a large atmospheric probe with a parachute lasting about one hour in
the cloud layers (40 to 60 km) or a fixed-altitude balloon operating at about
52 km above the surface. The latter relies on four deployable mini probes to
measure habitability conditions in the lower cloud region. The mission doubles
as a preparation for sample return by determining whether a subset of cloud
particles is non-liquid as well as characterizing the heterogeneity of the
cloud particles, thereby informing sample collection and storage methods for a
return journey to Earth.
arXiv: http://arxiv.org/abs/http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.11443v1
