https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/controversial-phosphine-findings-on-venus-corroborated/4020063.article
Four years after the discovery of phosphine in the clouds around Venus prompted excitement – and also scepticism – there is now new confirmation of the chemical that might signal the presence of life on the planet. These preliminary findings suggest that there might be life – or at the very least new chemistry – in the extreme environment of Venus, a planet shrouded by clouds of sulfuric acid and with a surface hot enough to melt lead.
A team led by Dave Clements, a reader in astrophysics at Imperial College London, announced initial findings at a special session of the National Astronomy Meeting in the UK in July. They are yet to be peer reviewed and are based on a tremendous amount of new data since the initial discovery of phosphine in 2020. The researchers have not only found phosphine (PH3) in Venus’s atmosphere once more, but also ammonia (NH3) at parts per billion deeper down in the clouds.
It means that there is some way in which hydrogen compounds are being produced in the atmosphere of Venus where they shouldn’t be expected,’ Clements tells Chemistry World. ‘We can’t say at this point whether it means life or not.’ But his best guess is there is a 10–20% chance that it’s life and an 80–90% chance that it’s chemistry that scientists don’t yet understand.
Whatever process is responsible for producing these chemicals it must be continuously synthesising them. ‘Phosphine does not survive in the atmosphere for very long, so there has to be something actively producing it,’ Clements notes. ‘The same is almost certainly true for ammonia.’