In mid September, a paper published in nature astronomy attracted wide attention. Scientists used telescopes to detect phosphine in the dense atmosphere of Venus. This compound may come from organic processes, which is considered to be an important evidence for the existence of life on Venus. According to foreign media LiveScience, phosphine was discovered by NASA as early as 1978, but it did not attract attention at that time.
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This is from NASA
With the discovery of phosphine in Venus' atmosphere, researchers began to wonder whether the data collected by pioneer 13 mission contained similar signals. There is also a probe designed to fly to the surface of Venus and collect information about its atmosphere and other conditions.
The probe is supported by a parachute, giving it time to collect samples and analyze them, and to send the data back to earth as quickly as possible. At the time, the researchers did not mention any information about phosphine or other phosphorus based compounds, but fortunately the data still exist for researchers to reanalyze and test.
This is from NASA
"We were inspired to reexamine the data obtained from the Pioneer Venus large probe neutral mass spectrometer (LNMS) for evidence of phosphorus compounds," the researchers wrote. LNMS obtains a large amount of neutral gas (and its debris) at different heights of Venus cloud. The published mass spectrometry data correspond to the gas in the lower and middle clouds at an altitude of 50-60 km or Venus, which has been identified as a potential habitable area. We found that lmns data support the existence of phosphine. However, the source of phosphorus is still unknown. ".
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