Primitive traces of current or former life can be found in the atmosphere of Venus, in the glaciers of Mars or in the subglacial oceans of the satellites of gas giants, Anatoly Petrukovich, director of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told RIA Novosti.
“For the development of life, it is quite enough, according to modern concepts, a stable place with a suitable temperature, water and some kind of energy source – thermal or chemical.
“Modern astronomy suggests that there are quite a lot of such places in the solar system. These can be subglacial oceans on the satellites of giant planets, Venus clouds, glaciers of Mars,” he said.
According to the scientist, if such a life is discovered, there will be nothing surprising for science.
“We must try to search,” Petrukovich believes.
He believes that the discovery of any, even the most primitive biological object of extraterrestrial origin, will radically change the views of mankind, expand the understanding of the boundaries of what is possible in genetics and biochemistry.
“This is one of those tasks that will justify almost any investment,” the scientist concluded.
