Russia begins designing the Venus-D automatic interplanetary station, Russian Academy of Sciences’ (RAS) Space Research Institute head Lev Zelyony said, adding that negotiations with contractors are underway, APA reports citing TASS.
"We are embarking on design engineering. An important meeting between RAS and Roscosmos management took place; we made a number of decisions, in particular, on the Venus program," Zelyony said.
According to the RAS scientist, the main contours of the Russian Venerian program will take shape during design planning. The first stage of the planetary exploration will be the launch of the Venus-D automatic interplanetary station. The project contractors are Lavochkin NPO and the Space Research Institute. The design planning may take two years, Zelyony speculated.
"We hope that the first spacecraft will fly to Venus in 2029," the scientist said.