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Russia to send Venus exploration mission in 2025 — designer

"Initially, it was planned to realize the project in 2016, but now the year 2025 is a probable date,” Russia’s Venera-D exploration rover's designer Lavochkin NPO said

Venus NASA

Venus

MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. Russia’s Venera-D exploration rover that was initially planned to be sent to Venus in 2016 will be launched in 2025, according to a report prepared by the rover’s designer, Lavochkin NPO, for the Korolyov Readings in Moscow on January 27-30 that was made public on Monday.

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Manned flight to Mars possible after 2035, says Russian cosmonaut

“Russia’s federal space program for 2006-2015 that was drafted back in 2006 provided for a Venus mission project (Venera-D) — a long-lived orbiter and lander to explore Venus’ atmosphere and surface. Initially, it was planned to realize the project in 2016, but now the year 2025 is a probable date,” the document says.

In 2013, the Venera-D project consisted of an orbiter with an operational life of more than two years, a subsatellite, a Vega-type lander with a working life of three hours, and a long-lived station that was to operate on the surface for at least three days.

“Now, it is suggested to look at a possibility of concurrent operation of the Vega-type lander and a long-lived station with an active life of at least 24 hours and at extending the working life of the long-lived station to 100 hours,” the report says.

Venera-D's prime purpose is to make radar remote-sensing observations around the planet Venus in a manner similar to that of the Venera 15 and Venera 16 probes in the 1980s or the US Magellan in the 1990s. Venera-D will be the first Venus probe launched by Russia after the collapse of the former Soviet Union.

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