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Assess the Habitability of Venus’s Upper Cloud Layers

Ascertain the present habitability of the upper cloud layers of Venus by determining whether their chemical and physical conditions can support life.

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Background

The report notes that the upper clouds of Venus offer relatively clement conditions compared to other extraterrestrial environments, prompting long-standing hypotheses about possible aerial habitability. However, the actual habitability status remains unresolved.

Clarifying cloud habitability would guide targeted in situ measurements by future aerial platforms and inform astrobiological assessments across planetary atmospheres, including analogies to potentially habitable cloud layers on exoplanets.

References

Although conditions in the upper clouds at Venus are more clement than virtually any other destination beyond Earth, the actual state of habitability of those clouds remains unknown.

— A New Strategy for the Exploration of Venus (2412.06830 - Workgroup, 6 Dec 2024) in Cross-disciplinary science nexus section, astrobiology subsection