Special double-feature APEX seminar: The clouds of Venus and the search for life on Mars

We are excited to announce that we have a special Astrobiology and Planetary Exploration (APEX) seminar this week on Friday 25th April at 13:00 GMT, featuring the following talk:

• Jan Špaček (ALFA Mars): (1) Liquid forming the clouds of Venus is darker than my blood, and (2) The search for extant life on Mars is the #1 priority for astrobiology

Jan will be attending with ALFA Inc. President and Chairman of the Board, Chris Temby.  An abstract for Jan's talk can be found below. 

This special APEX seminar will take place online and in the G22 Lecture Theatre on the ground floor of the UCL North West Wing building. We warmly encourage in-person attendance to support our visitors.

Our regular APEX seminar series will resume next academic year in October 2025.

If you are not on our regular mailing lists and are interested in attending these seminars, please contact joanna.fabbri AT ucl.ac.uk.

Talk abstract

(1) Liquid forming the clouds of Venus is darker than my blood, and (2) The search for extant life on Mars is the #1 priority for astrobiology

Generations of astronomers and scientists have been puzzled by markings on top of the Venusian clouds. The sulfuric acid aerosols forming the global cloud deck are themselves less light-absorbing than water aerosols. Thus, Venus’s clouds should be even more reflective (whiter) than Earth’s clouds. And yet, even to the naked eye, Venus appears pale yellow. This mystery has been tackled by many prominent astronomers, and many light-absorbing agents have been proposed. But to this day, astronomers refer to the absorber as “mysterious” or “unknown.” Surprisingly, rich organic chemistry is possible in sulfuric acid, starting from photochemically produced single-carbon precursors. This finding was unexpected for both chemists and astronomers, who had previously discounted organics in the Venusian atmosphere. The organic cycle hypothesis will be tested by Morning Star, the first private interplanetary mission. However, I see my biggest contribution to the field by asking: ‘If collected, how dark would the bulk liquid that makes up the clouds of Venus be?’ The surprising answer (hinted at in the title) will be presented in the first half of the APEX seminar.

Wondering about the “mysterious” absorber in the clouds of Venus and its astrobiological implications is intriguing, but it is currently not my priority, because there is a much more urgent question that must be addressed: Is there an active biosphere close to the surface of Mars? The long-held dream of expanding humanity onto Mars might become real within a decade, fueled by geopolitical competition and enabled by reusable rockets. But before we go, we must determine whether future explorers will encounter an alien biosphere. Thus, the second half of the APEX seminar will be dedicated to the alien Martian biosphere: how we plan to seek life with an unknown biology and unknown ecology in this decade with the Agnostic Life Finder (ALF). ALF has already been developed to TRL-4 (a lab-tested breadboard instrument) under a prestigious NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts grant. We plan to have it ready for use during robotic water-mining missions on Mars by 2028 in preparation for human exploration.

Links 

• ALFA Mars website
• APEX programme for this term 
• Recordings of previous APEX talks