Roscosmos Chief Says Russia Has Ways To Bring Soil Samples From Venus To Earth

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th August, 2020) Russian specialists have developed solutions to bring soil samples from Venus to Earth, the head of Russia's Roscosmos State Space Corporation, Dmitry Rogozin told Sputnik.

Russia and the United States are planning a joint space mission to Venus for 2027-2029, known as Venera-D. However, Moscow has not yet committed to the project financially, with scientists asking approximately $236 million to fund the Russian part of the initiative.

"I think it would be interesting not only to land a vehicle on Venus but also to bring back [its] soil to Earth. This would be a real breakthrough in the fundamental space science. We know how to do this. I have already been briefed on the engendering solutions for that," Rogozin said.

The head of Roscosmos also praised the Russian space industry for doing away with the main technical issues.

"There are no such issues with the rocket and space equipment as [there were] two years ago," Rogozin added.

All Russian space launches have been performed without an incident 22 months in a row, with the last incident taking place on October 11, 2018. Since then, Russia has launched over 40 rockets.