Popping By
Late Wednesday night, a space probe named BepiColombo will sail past Venus and scan its atmosphere for signs of life.
Its remarkable timing, as NBC News reports: BepiColombos maneuver has been planned for years, but just last month scientists found signs of phosphinein Venus atmosphere, a tantalizing potential sign of life in the hostile planets clouds. The space probe may not come close enough to Venus to pick up on such a faint phosphine signal, but either way, its flyby will provide the best direct evidence scientists have to work with as they scramble to make sense of last months discovery.
Fortuitously, BepiColombo will return to Venus next August. When that happens, NBC reports, it will come within 400 miles of the surface, where it will be able to get better readings of whatevers going on in the atmosphere.
We will use the lessons learned from this flyby to optimize our observing strategy for the next flyby, Jrn Helbert, a researcher at the German Aerospace Centers Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin who works on BepiColombo, told NBC. The closer we get, the better the signal.
Because this weeks flyby will bring the spacecraft a formidable 6,700 miles from the surface, BepiColombo will likely be too far away to detect the trace amounts of phosphine that were picked up last month. But it will fare better at looking for sulfur dioxide, NBC reports, which would indicate that there are active volcanos on the surface.
Its fortunate timing, but BepiColombos real destination is Mercury, so scientists are now trying to make do with the brief stop at Venus as best they can.
READ MORE: A well-timed Venus flyby looks for signs of life [NBC News]
More on Venus: Scientists Speculate About How Life on Venus Could Have Begun
Read more:
A Spacecraft Is Going to Hunt Life in Venus' Clouds This Week - Futurism
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