The line that millions think is from Star Trek, the Original Series or any of its movies, wasn't from any official part of Star Trek, but it's a good lead in to a real story. Seriously.
Back in 2020, Rocket Lab announced plans to launch the first private mission to
Venus. The tricky part is how do they launch a satellite capable of
doing much of anything to escape Earth's gravity and go interplanetary to
Venus? The answer is their upper stage,
called Photon, which is essentially a strap on module for a payload that slowly and
gradually accelerates the payload until it can make the desired
trajectory. It's still a small payload, because their Electron rockets
are limited to roughly 600 lbs to LEO and that has to include the Photon upper
stage.
The Photon upper stage is what they used to send the CAPSTONE satellite
to lunar orbit, so it's "flight proven."
All of that was prelude that sets the stage for what I think is a surprising and interesting mission to Venus. This mission is to search for evidence of life, biochemistry, in the sulfuric acid clouds of Venus. Let me rush to add the quote from principal investigator, Sara Seager, professor of planetary sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT):
"We're trying to look into the possibility that sulfuric acid droplets could host a biochemistry, not our personal biochemistry, but a different biochemistry."
It will be the first private mission to our "sister world" and they're attempting a lot.
Last year, Seager and colleagues, including her university son, authored a research paper with a tell-all title: "Stability of nucleic acid bases in concentrated sulfuric acid: Implications for the habitability of Venus' clouds." The work appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences.
As you've probably read elsewhere, Venusian clouds are composed of concentrated sulfuric acid. That's a nasty, dangerous, aggressive chemical that destroys most of Earth life's biochemicals, but Seager and her team have discovered that critical molecules needed for life, such as nucleic acid bases are stable in that environment.
"We do not know if the origin of life in concentrated sulfuric acid is possible, but such a possibility cannot be excluded a priori. Life could use concentrated sulfuric acid as a solvent instead of water and could have originated in the cloud droplets in liquid concentrated sulfuric acid," explains the paper.
"Our findings show that complex organic chemistry, including DNA nucleic acid bases, can be stable in concentrated sulfuric acid," the researchers note, and motivates them to design missions that directly probe the cloud particles for the presence of organic material. "Ultimately a sample return from the Venus atmosphere may be needed to robustly identify life, if present," they explain.
Sara Seager's son Max, 20, has helped with a lot of the drudgery of the research - ordering supplies and such - as an undergrad ( junior) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.
"Specifically for the amino acid studies, we really only started the amino acid project after I broke my arm and had a lot more time to spend at home doing research," Max Seager told Space.com. It turns out it's very difficult to order large volumes of concentrated sulfuric acid, he said, but possible to order many small bottles to support the investigative work.
"I think the standout thing of our research focus on Venus is that almost no one else really knows anything about the topic of sulfuric acid as a solvent. Besides our group, a few others, and some researchers in the early 1900s no one really knows much at all about sulfuric acid," Max Seager said. In part, what makes the research so amazing, he added, is the simplicity of it, since no one has ever thought of, or been motivated to do these types of studies.
While the Space.com source article doesn't include this, the last information I have on this mission is that Rocket Lab doesn't anticipate launching until 2025. The small probe (40 cm or < 16" diameter) will be propelled to Venus by a Photon upper stage, taking five months to make the trip to Venus with the Photon stage, coincidentally virtually the same amount of time as CAPSTONE took to reach its Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit around the moon. After all that time and effort to get to Venus, the small probe will have just five minutes left to live as it hunts for life.
Artist's illustration of Rocket Lab's planned Venus probe approaching the planet. The probe is the lighter colored, conical-looking portion in the middle of what appears to be solar panels. (Image credit: Rocket Lab)
While the idea of searching for, "a biochemistry, not our personal biochemistry, but a different
biochemistry" is interesting, the fact that they're apparently looking for the same DNA nucleic acid bases seems to me like it's not that different from Earth life. If they found something that was a completely foreign chemistry would they recognize it? If we found life that didn't resemble anything from Earth and didn't have a single compound we consider biochemistry, would we realize it was alive - if it didn't start talking to us in languages we don't recognize or understand either?
Like many things, whether there is "life" there will likely depend on how you define what "life" is.
ReplyDeleteIf, on the slim chance we discover "life", or some form of it, I have doubts that it is sufficiently advanced to be self-aware.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm frequently wrong. We DO need to probe and see what we can find.
I categorically deny any support of research utilizing ghost shrimp on a treadmill. Additionally, I likewise deny the rumors of my interest in polishing a turd, no matter at which end.
ReplyDeleteThat Seager is quoted as to the source of what makes their research so amazing, it sounds like elitism. Perhaps the early 1900 scientists quit their reseach because they came to understand the futility in it.
For more than the past 200 years, it has been somewhat common that someone somewhere is conducting research into the same as one's self. That no one else today is polishing, er, looking for 'life' in sulfuric acid is usually known as a clue, not as thrilling novel research.
SiG, you raise some very interesting questions.
ReplyDeleteI suppose initial observations of such an alien life would involve noting any organization to a higher form than chemical bonding. Perhaps state transitions, or production of waste would be a sign. Or, are those characteristiics of 'life as we know it'?
The question, What is 'life'? takes a turn to the metaphysical. And that I hardly label as scientific research, the empiricist that I am.
Yet such observation would neccisitate X duration of time. Just how much observation can be performed inside of five minutes?
Is five minutes enough to proclaim, There is no life, or is this probe an opening of the door to more grant monies, I mean scientific endeavors?
About Star Trek and quotes - I seem to remember DeForest Kelley appearing on the old TV show "The Millionaire", wherein he was a doctor. At one point in the show he said "I'm a doctor, not a ...". Got a lot of miles out of that line.
ReplyDeleteThe line is from "Star Trekkin'", a novelty song that once it gets stuck in your head is impossible to remove. Try it! "Star trekkin', across the universe, on the starship Enterprise, under Captain Kirk..." "Klingons on the starboard bow, starboard bow, starboard bow, Klingons on the starboard bow, SCRAPE 'EM OFF, JIM!!!"
ReplyDeleteI actually looked up the origin of the line before starting this, and even watched what was called the original video for the song. I vaguely remembered the song, but not the video. I thought it best not link to that, rather than possibly spread an earworm.
DeleteI did not know they ever had a video of it! Of course, these days it's not actually a piece of music unless it has video...
Delete...oh, dear God...
DeleteYouse guys are very young!
ReplyDeletehow about going back to the SciFi shorts of the '50s where the authors were exploring replacing the carbon atoms with silicon and the creatures thus formed breathing sulfur trioxide; I only wish I could remember the name of the story and the author's name.
You may be thinking of Hal Clement. He published many novels and short stories where chemistry took center stage (he was a chemist).
DeleteNo, I never read that story.
DeleteOne of the knocks on the whole idea of silicon-based life is that it can't exist in the same sort of conditions we do because at our temperatures and pressures, it's not gonna exhale silicon dioxide - its more common name is quartz. Where does the waste silicon go if they're exhaling sulfur compounds and not silicon? Do they poop quartz crystals?
That was the beauty of Clement's work. He always put in the extreme environments under which the various chemistries worked. The challenge was always what kind of exploration vehicle the humans could design to even interact with it.
DeleteMy favorite involved not so much chemistry as physics: "Mission of Gravity" explored the realities of living under Jupiter-level g-fields. Told from the point of view of the critters (which you eventually realized were small, centipede-shaped forms).
Interesting that they're looking for DNA, when it's not necessary for life. RNA, on the other hand...
ReplyDeleteI'm not suggesting that exploration is a waste of time because I don't think that. My sense is that this particular project, pursued in this particular way is a waste of time and money.
ReplyDeleteNASA is working on two probes to Venus, DAVINCI and VERITAS, to study or verify the presence of phosphine gas which has been detected from the planet but isn't considered to be confirmed. Those are expected to fly "in the late 2020s and early 2030s."
DeleteIf Rocket Lab does what they're saying, this satellite will be at Venus five years or more before the two NASA probes, and it will be much cheaper than them. This mission is being funded by Rocket Lab, MIT, and undisclosed philanthropists; and is being estimated to cost just $10 million. That's 1% of the estimated combined cost for both of NASA's missions.
no wonder; do the Venusian cows expel phosphine?
DeleteI sincerely hope Bill Gates isn't one of the "undisclosed philanthropists" trying to "adjust climate warming on Venus".
I recall Star Trek TNG had a plot with life as energy patterns on a neutron star (ignoring the remendous gravitational forces involved). Those life forms called us "ugly bags of mostly water" which is pretty apt.
ReplyDelete