Life Amidst Venus’s Inferno

 

Venus, despite its similar size and density to Earth, harbours an inhospitable atmosphere. Comprising 7 parts per 1,000 water vapours, a small percentage of nitrogen, and trace amounts of mercury and chlorine compounds, the majority of Venus’s atmosphere—approximately 90%—is a suffocating veil of carbon dioxide. In stark contrast, Earth’s atmosphere contains a mere 3 parts per thousand of this gas.

Scientists have long theorized that Venus formed from similar building blocks as Earth but followed a divergent evolutionary path. NASA’s Pioneer mission to Venus in the 1980s hinted at a past ocean on the planet. However, Venus’s proximity to the sun subjected it to intense solar radiation. Consequently, its early ocean evaporated, water-vapor molecules disintegrated under ultraviolet rays, and hydrogen escaped into space.

Devoid of surface water, Venus experienced a runaway greenhouse effect[1], resulting in its current extreme conditions. Scientists predict that vast regions of the planet’s surface glow red-hot due to intense heat. Reports from American and Soviet spacecraft that landed on Venus in the 1960s support this hypothesis. Moreover, the high concentration of carbon dioxide in Venus’s atmosphere leads to atmospheric pressure nearly ninety times that of Earth. Observers would feel as though they stood at the bottom of a fiery well, surrounded by luminous rocks.

Curiously, Venus’s deceptive visual perspective resembles an inverted umbrella caught by the wind—its edges turned upward. If an ant were perched atop this metaphorical umbrella, it would glimpse the entire outer surface in a single panoramic view[2].

Venus as photographed in infrared, shows the glow of hot, ignited regions on the planet's surface through thick clouds.

Thus, Venus, our scorching sister planet, has long fascinated scientists and inspired both scientific inquiry and science fiction.  

At an altitude of 60 km, Venus's upper atmosphere hosts a cold layer with ice crystals above a water mist cloud.  Some speculate that soft gel-like organisms, ranging from table tennis to football size, could exist there. These hypothetical life forms might use jet propulsion, absorbing wet gas on one side and exhaling it on the other; Their nutrition would likely rely on carbon dioxide gas[3].

 

Science fiction has woven tales of intelligent life on Venus, but the reality is starkly different. Venus, as we know it today, cannot support complex life; at best, it might harbor simple, unicellular organisms.   The planet's extreme conditions preclude any advanced life forms.

In September 2020, phosphine (PH3), a gas typically associated with organic life, was detected in Venus's middle atmosphere. While other processes (such as lightning or volcanic gases) can produce phosphine, the levels observed are puzzling. This discovery raises the tantalizing possibility of primitive life on Venus.

To unravel the phosphine mystery, we need to return to Venus. Ground monitoring confirms its presence, but we must explore the atmosphere more closely. Hypothetical designs to study Venus's upper layers were proposed, including floating probes with spectrometers, suspended by balloons.

 

In summary, Venus remains an enigma—a planet of extremes that eerily mirrors Earth’s potential future. If we persist in polluting its atmosphere and depleting its natural resources through the excessive waste generated by major industries, we risk replicating the environmental degradation prophesied in the Quran. Surah Al-Room, Verse 41, warns:

“Corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea due to what human hands have wrought, so that God may make them taste the consequences of their actions, perhaps leading them back to righteousness.”

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[1] . The effect of greenhouse or global warming is the warming of an environment as a result of the retention of thermal energy in it.

[2] . In October of the year 1975, two Soviet probes landed on the surface of Venus (Venezia 9 and 10) and sent pictures showing that the surface was covered with smooth rocks, the largest of which was about one meter in diameter, and the surface was as bright as a cloudy summer day, the weather was not as sharp as it was expected.

[3] . How Venus Turned Into Hell, and How the Earth Is Next | Space. https://www.space.com/venus-runaway-greenhouse-effect-earth-next.html.