The possibility of life in the venusian clouds was proposed in the 1960s, and recently this hypothesis has been revived with the potential detection of phosphine (PH₃) in Venus' atmosphere. These observations may have detected ∼5–20 ppb phosphine on Venus (Greaves et al., 2020), which raises questions about venusian atmospheric/geochemical processes and suggests that this phosphine could possibly be generated by biological processes. In such a claim, it is essential to understand the abiotic phosphorus chemistry that may occur under Venus-relevant conditions, particularly those processes that may result in phosphine generation. Here, we discuss two related abiotic routes for phosphine generation within the atmosphere of Venus. Based on our assessment, corrosion of large impactors as they ablate near Venus' cloud layer, and the presence of reduced phosphorus compounds in the subcloud layer could result in production of phosphine and may explain the phosphine detected in Venus' atmosphere or on other rocky planets. We end on a cautionary note: although there may be life in the clouds of Venus, the detection of a simple, single gas, phosphine, is likely not a decisive indicator.

中文翻译：

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岩石行星上的磷化氢生成途径

金星云中存在生命的可能性是在 1960 年代提出的，最近随着金星大气中磷化氢 (PH ₃ )的潜在检测，这一假设得到了复兴。这些观察结果可能在金星上检测到约 5-20 ppb 的磷化氢（Greaves等人，2005 年）。, 2020)，它提出了有关金星大气/地球化学过程的问题，并表明这种磷化氢可能是由生物过程产生的。在这样的声明中，必须了解在金星相关条件下可能发生的非生物磷化学，特别是那些可能导致磷化氢生成的过程。在这里，我们讨论了金星大气中磷化氢生成的两条相关非生物途径。根据我们的评估，大型撞击物在金星云层附近消融时的腐蚀，以及亚云层中磷化合物的存在可能导致磷化氢的产生，这可能解释了在金星大气层或其他岩石行星上检测到的磷化氢. 我们以警告结束：虽然金星的云层中可能有生命，