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Astrobiology—a melting pot of open scientific questions

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Alien Encounter

Part of the book series: Science and Fiction ((SCIFICT))

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Abstract

Vladimir and Jack are monitoring microbial densities in the lower cloud layer of Venus. The possible presence of microbes in the lower atmosphere of Venus has previously been postulated by various authors. The underlying idea is that Venus was a planet positioned in the habitable zone of our Sun – many billions of years ago—meaning that liquid water was stable on its surface. The earliest traces of life we know from Earth are at least 3.8 billion years old, possibly older. Some researchers propose that oceans could have existed on Venus for well in excess of one billion years. The argument then is: given that early conditions on Venus were very similar to Earth, and we know Earth had life at least 3.8 billion years ago, then life could have originated on Venus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA

    Dirk Schulze-Makuch

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Correspondence to Dirk Schulze-Makuch .

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Schulze-Makuch, D. (2014). Astrobiology—a melting pot of open scientific questions. In: Alien Encounter. Science and Fiction. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01961-1_2

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