You know that one person who always claims to have been at the centre of something just to seem impressive?
Or even worse, that theyâre somehow responsible for something incredible happening? Well, cast your minds back to earlier this week, if you can, when scientists revealed that signs of alien life had been detected on Venus after discovering traces of microbes in the atmosphere that suggest the âpresence of lifeâ.
Unsurprisingly, the person we just mentioned wants to get in on the action now the planet is interesting again. Except this time, that âpersonâ is an entire country, with Russia now claiming ownership of Venus.
Following the recent discovery, which suggested there is potentially life in the planetâs atmosphere, the head of Russiaâs space agency has said Venus is a âRussian planetâ.
The bizarre claim was made by Roscosmosâs director general Dmitry Rogozin on Tuesday, September 15, during the 2020 HeliRussia exhibition in Moscow, with Rogozin claiming the Soviet Union was the first country to send a probe to Venus.
He added that once there, the country found surface temperatures of around 450°C, hot enough to melt lead, adding: âOur country was the first and only one to successfully land on Venus. The spacecraft gathered information about the planet â it is like hell over there.â
Rogozin didnât stop there though, with his next claim the boldest of all. âWe believe that Venus is a Russian planet,â he stated, according to Russiaâs TASS news agency
It comes less than a week after an international team of astronomers, led by Professor Jane Greaves of Cardiff University, announced the discovery of phosphine gas in Venusâs clouds.
Phosphine gas is produced on Earth by microbes, and as far as we know phosphine can only be made by life â whether human or microbe â suggesting colonies of living microbes have been living in an oxygen-free environment in Venusâs atmosphere.
The astronomers hadnât expected to find anything of the sort during their research, with Professor Greaves telling Sky News the experiment was simply one of âpure curiosityâ.
âI thought weâd just be able to rule out extreme scenarios, like the clouds being stuffed full of organisms,â she explained. âWhen we got the first hints of phosphine in Venusâs spectrum, it was a shock!â
After the studyâs publication on Monday, Breakthrough Initiatives â a programme funded by Russian tech billionaire Yuri Milner â announced its plan to fund a further study âinto the possibility of primitive lifeâ in Venusâs clouds.
Further to that, Rogozin also announced on Tuesday that Roscosmos intends to independently explore Venus to study the planetâs atmosphere and soil, along with the âevolutionary processes of Venusâ.
A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).
Source: https://www.unilad.co.uk/news/russias-space-agency-just-claimed-venus-is-a-russian-planet/
Venus, Roscosmos, Russia, Planet
World news – US – Russiaâs Space Agency Just Claimed Venus Is A Russian Planet