Russia has announced plans to launch its Venera-D mission to Venus in 2036, aiming to deploy an orbiter, a lander, and a balloon probe to study the planet’s extreme environment.
The mission is part of a broader series of robotic exploration efforts targeting the Moon and Venus, which Roscosmos said currently occupy a central place in its space programme.
According to details reported by Space.com, the orbiter will study Venus from above, mapping and analysing its surface, while the balloon probe will float through the planet’s dense clouds to gather atmospheric data. The lander is designed to conduct detailed investigations on the surface under harsh conditions.
A key objective of the mission is to explore the possibility of microbial life in Venus’s clouds.
Russia is also expected to collaborate with NASA and the European Space Agency on broader Venus research efforts, including upcoming missions such as VERITAS, DAVINCI, and the EnVision project.
The mission builds on a legacy established by the former Soviet Union, which remains the only country to have successfully landed spacecraft on Venus.
Beginning with the Venera 7 mission in 1970, Soviet landers managed to survive the planet’s extreme conditions, including temperatures of about 900 degrees Fahrenheit and pressures roughly 90 times that of Earth at sea level.
The “D” in Venera-D stands for “dolgozhivuschaya,” meaning long-lived, reflecting the mission’s goal of extending the operational lifespan of landers beyond the few hours achieved by earlier missions.