Dr. Sukrit Ranjan is a co-author on a recent paper published in Nature Astronomy announcing the discovery of phosphine gas on Venus. In this episode he explains why this discovery is so interesting, what the implications are for the search for extraterrestrial life and what we are going to have to do to figure out whether this particular discovery of phosphine on Venus really is being produced by life.

Links

Phosphine gas in the cloud decks of Venus (Original Nature paper about the discovery)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-1174-4

Phosphine as a Biosignature Gas in Exoplanet Atmospheres

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2018.1954?journalCode=ast

Excitement mounts for planned Venus flyby after new discovery hints at signs of life

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/excitement-mounts-planned-venus-flyby-discovery-hints-signs/story?id=73071096

Is Phosphine in the Mass Spectra from Venus' Clouds? (Re-examining data obtained from the Pioneer-Venus Large Probe Neutral Mass Spectrometer)

https://arxiv.org/abs/2009.12758

Rocket Lab aims to launch private Venus mission in 2023

https://www.space.com/rocket-lab-private-venus-mission-2023.html

Breakthrough Initiatives to Fund Study into Search for Primitive Life in the Clouds of Venus

https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/news/31