Russia announces launch of 'Venera-D Venus mission' by 2036

Russia has announced to launch Venera-D mission to Venus before 2036. Earlier in 1961 and 1983, four Venera probes of the Soviet Union took important photographs of the surface of Venus.

• Russia is set to launch Venera-D mission to revisit Venus before 2036. According to Oleg Korablev of the Space Research Institute (IKI), preliminary design work will begin in January 2026 as part of the country's new national space program.
• The mission will consist of a lander, a balloon probe and an orbital spacecraft, with launch expected between 2034 and 2036. The design phase will take two years to complete in collaboration with the Lavochkin Association. The exact launch date will be determined after the design phase.
• Scientists said the launch date of the mission will be decided after the design phase is completed. "But it will definitely happen within the current planning period, not before the year 2036," they said.

Russia's previous missions

• In 1961 and 1983, the Soviet Union's four Venera probes took the only pictures of Venus's surface. Venera, which means 'Venus' in Russian, scanned the surface back and forth to create panoramic images of its surroundings.

NASA's missions DaVinci Plus and Veritas

• Earlier, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced two new robotic missions (DaVinci Plus and Veritas) to Venus. Both missions aim to understand how Venus became a hell-like planet, capable of melting lead on the surface.

Da Vinci Plus:

• This will be the first of the two, it will analyse Venus' thick, cloud-filled atmosphere to try to figure out if the planet ever had an ocean and if it was possibly habitable. A small probe will descend into the atmosphere to measure gases.

VERITAS:

• This will be the second attempt to learn the geologic history of the rocky planet by mapping its surface.

Previous missions:

• USA - Mariner series 1962-1973, Pioneer Venus 1 and Pioneer Venus 2 in 1978, Magellan in 1989.
• Russia - Venera spacecraft series 1961-1983, Vegas 1 and 2 in 1985.
• Japan - Akatsuki in 2015.
• Europe - Venus Express in 2005.

Indian initiative

• India's space agency, ISRO, plans to launch a Venus orbiter mission called Shukrayaan. Although the original plan was to launch it in 2024, recent reports indicate that the launch may be delayed, possibly to 2028 or even later and the most suitable launch window for it would be 2031.

Venus

• It is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. It is the second planet from the Sun and the sixth planet in the solar system by size and mass. Unlike the other planets in our solar system, Venus and Uranus rotate clockwise on their axis.
• It is the hottest planet in the solar system because it has a high concentration of carbon dioxide, which produces an intense greenhouse effect. Venus is called the twin of Earth because they have similarity in mass, size and density and their relative position in the solar system is also the same.