News Planetary Science

A private mission to Venus aims to look for signs of life

A probe would bring samples of the planet’s atmosphere to Earth

A blue hemisphere fills the bottom of the image. White wispy clouds swirl on its surface.

Venus' wispy sulfuric acid clouds swirl prettily in this image from the Galileo spacecraft, taken in 1990.

NASA

By Lisa Grossman

BOSTON —Droplets of Venus’ clouds may someday come to Earth. Researchers are testing a device that can gather mist from our planetary neighbor’s atmosphere and deliver it to scientists so they can test the samples for signs of life.

Venus is not an obvious place to look for life.