Russia starts designing the first mission to Venus since the USSR

This is reported by TASS with reference to the scientific director of the Institute of Space Research (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Lev Zeleny.

“The technical design of the project is starting.

An important meeting of the leadership of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Roscosmos took place, we made decisions, in particular on the Venus program, ”Zeleny said.

The first stage in the exploration of the planet will be the dispatch of the automatic interplanetary station "Venera-D".

At the moment, contracts are being concluded with the contractors.

Design, Zeleny suggested, would take two years.

He expressed the hope that the first spacecraft will fly to Venus in 2029.

Within the framework of the Venusian program, it is also planned to solve the problem of delivering soil to Earth from the second planet from the Sun. 

Earlier, the head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin said that Russia intends to send its own mission to Venus.