Life on Venus could be blown to Earth by powerful solar winds

London, July 26 : Scientists have said that microbes from Venus could actually be blown into the Earth's atmosphere by solar winds.

According to a report by BBC News, this has been suggested by two scientists at the Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology in the UK.

Their findings follow analysis of data from the European Space Agency's (ESA's) Venus Express probe, launched in 2005.

Previous research has considered the possibility of micro organisms existing in Venus's atmosphere despite extreme temperatures on its surface.

Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe and Dr Janaki Wickramasinghe from the ESA claim that Venus's clouds contain chemicals that are consistent with the presence of micro organisms.

They suggest that under certain conditions, these microbes from high in Venus's atmosphere could be blown into the Earth's atmosphere.

This process would only take days or weeks.

But the Sun, Earth and Venus must be suitably aligned, which last happened in 2004 and will not happen again until 2012.

"Venus and Earth have often been referred to as sisters because of their geological similarities," said Prof Wickramasinghe. "Our research proposes that the two sisters may be biologically interconnected as well," he added.

The Venus Express probe, launched in November 2005, is orbiting the planet to study its atmosphere, to learn more about this connection.

Scientists hope to learn how Venus, which is similar to Earth in size, mass and composition, evolved so differently over the last 4.6 billion years.

ANI