There was a bizarre story some years back about the Venera landers picking up signs of life: According to the Russian news service Ria Novosti, Leonid Ksanfoma

There was a bizarre story some years back about the Venera landers picking up signs of life: According to the Russian news service Ria Novosti, Leonid Ksanfomaliti, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences who worked on unmanned Soviet missions to Venus during the 1970s and '80s, has written a new article in the journal Solar System Research. In the article, he calls attention to several objects photographed by the Venera-13 landing probe, a spacecraft that landed on Venus in 1982. The objects — including features described as a disc and a scorpion — appear to change locations from one photo to the next. "Let's boldly suggest that the objects' morphological features would allow us to say that they are living," Ksanfomaliti stated, according to Ria Novosti. ... In one image, the Venera-13 landing probe is seen parked on the rocky Venusian foreground, and an object shaped somewhat like a crab stands inches from the probe. In another image, also taken by Venera-13, this crab-like object appears to be in a different location. The claim was debunked; the evidence consists of image artifacts or mechanical pieces from the landers themselves: https://www.livescience.com/18083-life-venus-russian-claim.html https://www.livescience.com/18083-life-venus-russian-claim.h...