PARIS: A study measuring water concentration in Venus’s atmosphere concluded Monday that life as we know it is not possible among the sulphuric acid droplets that make up the planet’s famously cloudy skies.

The search for life on our nearest neighbour has so far proved fruitless, although a 2020 paper rekindled hopes for Venus when it claimed to have detected phosphine gas — known to be produced by bacteria on Earth — in the planet’s clouds.

The authors have since called their own findings into question. But the claim inspired scientists led by Queen’s University Belfast to test the theory from a different angle: whether there is enough water in Venus’s atmosphere to make life possible.