Tormod
That "Venus Sample Return Mission Studied" sums up the problems well. You can't use a small rocket from the surface. It does offer solutions, but they are so complex I doubt the projected research budget, or the odds against success would make pleasant reading.
May I congratulate the article on reaching its majority, but I rather suspect it will be collecting its pension before anything happens.
Aki
The limits for life are, to say the least, uncertain. Wherever there are chemical reactions there is some hope of self reproducing catalysts. That is my definition of life, but it might not be yours. The wider the range of elements, and complex molecules available, the greater the number of chemical reactions possible, the more likely that such life will start.
Temperature might not be a problem. Lots of complex molecules are stable at such temperature. The big problem is liquids. For molecules to interact, they must be moved. On earth life uses water as the medium. In theory any liquid in which a good range of molecules can be dissolved might suffice. At those temperatures I would suspect that almost any liquid would dissolve just about anything, but what would be liquid? Given the absence of free oxygen, complex carbon based molecules might be possible. Some sort of wax, or grease? Carbon bonds are strong enough to survive the temperature, and a large enough molecule should be liquid.
However, my main hope is chemistry with gas as a medium.
But these are arguments for life on Venus now. Maybe there is none now, but there was once. There is a good argument that Venus had water, and thus perhaps life, in the past.
Check this out:
http://spacelink.nasa.gov/NASA.Proje...us.Discoveries
