A new study by researchers at Queen’s University Belfast, published in Nature Astronomy, showed that while life is not possible in Venus, it is possible in the clouds of Jupiter.
Recent space exploration missions have looked for evidence of life in space by trying to identify the existence of water, but these new findings show that it's not the quantity of water that matters for viable life, but the effective concentration of water molecules or "water activity."
"Our research shows that the sulphuric acid clouds in Venus have too little water for active life to exist, based on what we know of life on Earth," said John E. Hallsworth, lead author of the study. "We have also found that the conditions of water and temperature within Jupiter’s clouds could allow microbial-type life to subsist, assuming that other requirements such as nutrients are present."
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstadt/Heidi N. Becker/Koji Kuramura