In A Complete Fluke, A European Spacecraft Is About To Fly Past Venus – And Could Look For Signs Of Life

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanocallaghan/2020/09/16/in-a-complete-fluke-a-european-spacecraft-is-about-to-fly-past-venus--and-could-look-for-signs-of-life/?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=38a29cc4a2-briefing-dy-20200917&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-38a29cc4a2-44992633#67d55bef2681

Can we grab a glimpse of Venus?

The discovery of phosphine in Venus’s atmosphere has space agencies scrambling to see whether spacecraft currently exploring the Solar System can take a closer look. They want to confirm the presence of the molecule, and dig deeper into the thrilling question of whether it might be a sign of life. The European Space Agency’s BepiColombo will make two flybys of Venus on its way to Mercury — in October and August — and it could possibly detect phosphine. “[On the first flyby] we have to get very, very lucky,” says planetary scientist Jörn Helbert, co-lead scientist on a spectrometry instrument that is on board BepiColombo. “On the second one, we only have to get very lucky. But it’s really at the limit of what we can do.”

Forbes | 7 min read