Transfer of Life Between Earth and Venus with Planet-Grazing Asteroids

Abstract

Recently, phosphine was discovered in the atmosphere of Venus as a potential biosignature. This raises the question: if Venusian life exists, could it be related to terrestrial life? Based on the known rate of meteoroid impacts on Earth, we show that at least $\sim 6 \times 10^5$ asteroids have grazed Earth's atmosphere without being significantly heated and later impacted Venus, and a similar number have grazed Venus's atmosphere and later impacted the Earth, both within a period of $\sim 10^5$ years during which microbes could survive in space. Although the abundance of terrestrial life in the upper atmosphere is unknown, these planet-grazing shepherds could have potentially been capable of transferring microbial life between the atmospheres of Earth and Venus. As a result, the origin of possible Venusian life may be fundamentally indistinguishable from that of terrestrial life.