MOSCOW, March 19 (Xinhua) -- A Russian-U.S. interplanetary probe to Venus will be possibly launched in 2027, said Lyudmila Zasova, co-chair of the bilateral scientific working group of the mission.
"We are discussing launch windows for 2026, end of 2027, 2029 and 2031. Even if the funding starts this year, there will be no time left for the first date. Most likely it may happen in 2027," Zasova told RIA Novosti news agency in an interview published Tuesday.
The costs of Venera-D, a joint project to land on Venus, will be discussed in Moscow in October, she said.
Japan and Europe are ready to join the project by providing their scientific equipment, Zasova said.
The mission was first proposed in 2003 by the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 2013, the United States became interested in the project and in the same year a joint working group was set up.
But the project was suspended in 2014 due to Crimea and was resumed the next year with the launch of the probe preliminarily scheduled for 2026.
The probe, involving Russian orbital and landing gear and a small U.S. scientific station, is expected to be launched by the Russian Angara-A5 heavy rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's Far Eastern Amur Region.
