The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, announced a purely Russian mission to Venus against the background of the discovery by scientists in the atmosphere of this planet of biomarkers that may indicate possible life on the planet.
Earlier it was reported that scientists at Cardiff University (UK) and the Massachusetts Institute of technology (USA) found phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus, which may have a biological origin. It is produced by microorganisms that do not use oxygen for breathing.
"Our program includes the topic of restoring the study of Venus - together with the Americans, the Venus-D project. We are also considering a separate mission to Venus. We believe that Venus is still a Russian planet," Rogozin told reporters.
He noted that the projects of missions to explore Venus are included in the draft of the unified state program of space activities of Russia for the period 2021-2030. It was reported that this program should be approved by the end of the year. Earlier, in an interview with RIA Novosti, Rogozin said that specialists in the Russian rocket and space industry presented him with options for delivering soil samples from Venus to Earth.
The mission to Venus is planned for 2027-2029. This should be a joint Russian-American project "Venus-D". However, it has not yet received funding from the Russian side. Scientists are asking for more than 17 billion rubles for the Russian part of the project over the next 10 years. The American part of the Venus-D project is estimated at about the same amount.
Rogozin previously noted that it was not yet clear whether the return of soil from Venus would be organized as part of the Venus-D mission or one of the following missions, saying that he would prefer a national mission to Venus joint with the United States.
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Source: RIA Novosti