Roscosmos Suspends US On Venera-D Mission
Moscow, Feb 26: Russia suspended the United States from further participation in its Venus exploration mission Venera-D amid the implementation of new sanctions against Russia, the Head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin told Sputnik on Saturday.
“Under the circumstances of new and preservation of the earlier implemented sanctions, I find it inappropriate for the US to further participate in the Russian project of development and creation of the Venera-D interplanetary station,” Rogozin said.
Russia plans to send the Venera-D probe to Venus in November 2029. The spacecraft with orbital, landing, demonstration and atmospheric modules was initially planned as a Russia-US venture. In 2020, however, Roscosmos said that the Venera-D mission was going to be an independent national project and was not expected to attract significant international cooperation.
Russia is also aiming to send a Venus exploration mission in June 2031, and another one in June 2034, to study the planet’s atmosphere and, possibly, collect soil samples.
According to NASA, the US is planning two missions to Venus with launches expected in the 2028-2030 timeframe. Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry and Imaging (DAVINCI+) consists of a probe that will descend into the Venus’ shrouded atmosphere.
A second mission dubbed Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy (VERITAS) will orbit the planet with a synthetic aperture radar able to penetrate clouds that hide the planet’s surface from astronomers on Earth.
On February 24, the US imposed export control sanctions targeting Russia’s defense, aerospace, and maritime sectors over a military operation in Ukraine. Moscow is now prohibited from purchasing an array of high-tech items, including semiconductors, computers, telecommunications, information security equipment, lasers, and sensors.
