By Clare Sansom2021-02-09T09:49:00+00:00
The potential presence of phosphine on Venus is only the latest twist in the strange chemistry of our planetary neighbour, finds Clare Sansom
About 4.5 billion years ago three similar smallish rocky planets formed around our Sun. Had any interstellar visitors been watching the solar system at that time, however, they could not have guessed at their radically different fates. While our planet developed ideal conditions for complex biology to evolve, neither Mars nor Venus was able to hold on to either of the two most important pre-requisites for life: atmospheric oxygen or liquid water. In fact, scientists are split over Venus’ past; some believe that it might once have had oceans and, perhaps, been habitable, while others think its water could never have condensed.