U.S. refusal to cooperate with Russia on Venera-D project does not affect mission tasks - Roscosmos

MOSCOW. May 15 (Interfax) - NPO Lavochkin will begin designing the Venera-D spacecraft at the beginning of 2024, and the U.S. refusal to cooperate has not affected the mission's tasks, Russia's Roscosmos said in a statement on Monday.

"The U.S. refusal to cooperate has had absolutely no effect on the tasks of the Venera-D mission, [including] remote and contact studies of the atmosphere, surface, internal structure and surrounding plasma of Venus at the contemporary scientific and technical level," the statement said.

Design work for Venera-D is expected to begin in January 2024, it said.

"The Lavochkin Research and Production Association (a unit of the Roscosmos state cooperation) has finished drafting a technical proposal for developing the Venera-D spacecraft to explore Venus. Its results will serve as the basis for scheduling the conceptual design, approval of technical assignments, and conclusion of contracts with partners, and a council of chief designers is being established," Roscosmos said.

Roscosmos and the Russian Academy of Sciences are also considering the possibility of bringing samples of Venus' soil, atmosphere and aerosols to Earth as part of the Venera-V mission.

Dmitry Rogozin, then Roscosmos head, said on November 21, 2021, that agreement had been reached with NASA to study Venus together. He said on November 29, 2021, that Roscosmos did not rule out the United States' withdrawal from the Venera-D project, in which case Russia would launch the spacecraft on its own.

Anatoly Petrukovich, director of the Space Research Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Interfax on December 4, 2021, that the U.S. refusal to join the Venera-D project could increase its costs for Russia.