Russia's space agency Roscosmos has allocated 318 million rubles ($4.3 million) for the development of an automatic space station for Venus exploration, according to the country's public procurement website
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th May, 2021) Russia's space agency Roscosmos has allocated 318 million rubles ($4.3 million) for the development of an automatic space station for Venus exploration, according to the country's public procurement website.
Venera-D will be the first Venus probe launched by Russia. The contract between Roscosmos and state-owned Lavochkin Research and Production Association envisages spending of 318.2 million rubles until March 2023.
According to the public procurement website, the company will have to "substantiate the feasibility of the mission and possible design solutions that ensure the study of the atmosphere, surface, internal structure and surrounding plasma of Venus at a modern scientific and technical level," as well as "explore the possibility of returning Venus soil, atmosphere and aerosols samples to Earth."
In March, the Space Research Institute's planetary scientist Ludmila Zasova told Sputnik that Russia had already started designing its Venera-D spacecraft, which would be tasked with studying the surface of Venus.
The launch of the Venus mission is planned for 2029.
The mission was initially planned as a Russian-US venture. Last year, however, Roscosmos said that the Venera-D mission was going to be an independent national project and was not expected to attract significant international cooperation.
