{"id":15929,"date":"2015-11-12T20:24:23","date_gmt":"2015-11-12T12:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/u-s-russian-talks-on-venus-mission-resume\/"},"modified":"2015-11-12T20:24:23","modified_gmt":"2015-11-12T12:24:23","slug":"u-s-russian-talks-on-venus-mission-resume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/u-s-russian-talks-on-venus-mission-resume\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S.-Russian talks on Venus mission resume"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"NASA's
NASA\u2019s Magellan mission mapped Venus in radar imagery, revealing the planet\u2019s global surface topography for the first time. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA has resumed discussions with Russia on a potential joint robotic mission to Venus in the late 2020s after the Ukraine crisis stalled the partnership, according to scientists involved in the talks.<\/p>\n

Russian scientists have studied the Venera-D mission to Venus more than a decade as a follow-up to the Soviet-era Venera and Vega probes to the second rock from the sun.<\/p>\n

Rob Landis, a program executive at NASA Headquarters, told a meeting of the Venus Exploration Analysis Group last month that the discussions are taking a \u201c100,000-foot view\u201d of the mission.<\/p>\n

NASA has only committed to a year-long feasibility study, which will produce a report for top NASA and Russian managers to decide whether to pursue a cooperative mission to Venus, Landis said Oct. 27 at the VEXAG meeting in Washington.<\/p>\n

The joint science definition team met in Moscow from Oct. 5-8, and scientists plan two more face-to-face meetings in the Russian capital over the next year. Scientists from the Moscow-based Space Research Institute, known by the Russian acronym IKI, are in charge of the Venera-D concept.<\/p>\n

Russian officials envision the Venera-D mission as a combined orbiter and lander. Scientists are also studying whether the mission could accommodate a balloon to loiter in the Venusian atmosphere for several days, measuring the sweltering planet\u2019s climate patterns and winds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made a lot of progress,\u201d said David Senske, a scientist at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who is the U.S. co-chair of the Venera-D science definition team. \u201cWe heard a lot about what they had in mind. We\u2019ve been told this is an IKI\/Roscosmos endeavor, so they\u2019re in the driver\u2019s seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senske said the U.S. role in the science definition team is to steer the Venera-D mission\u2019s objectives toward addressing NASA priorities and answering questions posed by the last planetary science decadal survey, a document published by the National Research Council that guides U.S. solar system exploration.<\/p>\n

The October meeting came after the potential Venera-D partnership was put on hold following Russia\u2019s annexation of Crimea in early 2014.<\/p>\n

A U.S. government directive for NASA to curtail its cooperation with Russia in April 2014 excluded large projects, such as the International Space Station and Russia\u2019s research instrument aboard the Curiority Mars rover. But the policy forced the Venera-D science definition team to suspend their work before it even started.<\/p>\n

\"Artist's
Artist\u2019s concept of the Venera-D spacecraft. Credit: NASA\/IKI\/David Senske<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAlmost two years ago, NASA and Roscosmos decided to stand up a joint science definition team,\u201d Senske said. \u201cWe had just gotten our work going when we were told stand down, but in August (of) this year, we were told we were back in business again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s federal space program initially included the Venera-D mission as a core component, assuring the project of Russian government funding. But Senske said the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, has now asked scientists to formally propose the Venera-D mission before it will be considered for full development.<\/p>\n

NASA participation in the mission could reduce Venera-D\u2019s cost to the Russian government, and IKI scientists have scaled back the scope of the mission.<\/p>\n

The mission includes a spacecraft in a 24-hour orbit around Venus, and a probe that will descend through the planet\u2019s smothering atmosphere and operate on the surface for up to several hours.<\/p>\n

Russian scientists initially planned a more sturdy lander \u2014 the \u201cD\u201d in Venera-D stands for the Russian word for long-lived \u2014 but designing and building a spacecraft to survive for multiple days on Venus turned out to be too costly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they looked at that in detail, they discovered that was a bridge too far. They wanted to get 24 hours or more (from the lander), but in order to fit into their cost envelope, they\u2019re looking at more of a Vega-type lander,\u201d Senske said, referring to the Soviet Union\u2019s Vega missions to Venus in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s last Venus missions launched in 1984 after launching a series of Venus probes beginning in 1961.<\/p>\n

The Venera-D lander would likely focus on atmospheric observations, surface imagery and composition measurements, and searching for volcanic activity. Venera-D\u2019s orbiter would look at Venus\u2019 upper atmosphere, cloud patterns, super-rotating winds and the planet\u2019s runaway greenhouse effect, which gives Venus surface temperatures of nearly 900 degrees Fahrenheit (nearly 500 degrees Celsius).<\/p>\n

Launch of the Venera-D mission will not occur before 2025, according to Lev Zelyony, IKI\u2019s director, who was quoted in a story by Russia\u2019s Interfax news agency.<\/p>\n

Tasks for the science definition team include identifying the Venera-D mission\u2019s science goals and technological needs. The discussions will also determine what NASA could contribute to the mission, assuming it goes forward.<\/p>\n

A final report from the science definition team to NASA and IKI is due Sept. 30, 2016.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASA\u2019s Magellan mission mapped Venus in radar imagery, revealing the planet\u2019s global surface topography for the first time. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech NASA has resumed discussions with Russia on a potential joint robotic mission to Venus in the late 2020s after the Ukraine crisis stalled the partnership, according to scientists involved in the talks. Russian scientists have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3521,3886,3451],"class_list":["post-15929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-iki","tag-venera-d","tag-venus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15929"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}