MOSCOW, June 12. /TASS/: The Russian Academy of Sciences' Council for Space Research has suggested to Russia's Roscomos space corporation to start implementing the Venera-D (Venus-D) project and finance the first stages of development works, the council's co-chair Lev Zeleny told TASS on Wednesday.
"The corresponding request was sent to Roscosmos. Roscosmos is working on it," Zeleny said.
TASS has not yet managed to obtain a comment from Roscosmos.
Zeleny reminded that the RAS Council for Space Research discussed the Venera-D project at its last session and recommended to start implementation. "The RAS Council supported this project," he noted.
Earlier reports said that the estimated cost of development works in preparation for implementing the Venera-D project will stand at around 17 bln rubles.
The baseline concept of the Venera-D mission calls for an orbiter, which will study the planet from outer space, and a lander, which is expected to operate on Venus’s surface for a few hours. One of the mission’s objectives is to trace signs of life in the past and nowadays in Venus’ unfavorable conditions. Besides, the scientists plan to study greenhouse effect on the planet.
