Roscosmos Planetary Exploration Missions

Russia and US team up for mission to Venus

Scientists also plan to study greenhouse effect on the planet

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/. Russia and the United States will continue joint research in 2017-2018 on a mission to Venus, Lyudmila Zasova, the head of the laboratory for spectroscopy of planetary atmospheres of the Space Research Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, told TASS.

"On January 31, 2017, a report on results of the joint science-definition team’s work was presented to both to the Russian Space Research Institute, Roscosmos (Russian federal space agency) and NASA and was highly estimated," Zasova said. "NASA and Roscosmos have agreed to go ahead with the work throughout 2017 and 2018."

Read also
Russian-US experiment to simulate outer space mission named SIRIUS

The launch of two Venera-D modules - the orbiter and the lander - was scheduled for approximately 2026.

"The timeframe could be considered realistic given the project gets financing in the foreseeable future," she added, noting that space program could cost more than $1 bln.

"However, in case several space agencies team up on the project, the mission will be cheaper for each of them," the scientist said.

The baseline concept of the Venera-D mission calls for an orbiter, which will study the planet from outer space, and a lander, which is expected to operate on Venus’s surface for a few hours. One of the mission’s objectives is to trace signs of life in the past and nowadays in Venus’ unfavorable conditions. Besides, the scientists plan to study greenhouse effect on the planet.


More:
http://tass.com/science/941604

Russian lunar missions delayed over unprepared Baikonur spaceport infrastructure

It was reported earlier that three missions to the Earth’s natural satellite were scheduled aboard Soyuz carrier rockets in 2019-2021

ZHUKOVSKY, July 19. /TASS/. Two Russian missions to the Moon have been rescheduled as the Baikonur spaceport’s ground infrastructure can’t hold simultaneous preparations for flights to the Earth’s natural satellite and Mars, Lavochkin Research and Production Association CEO Sergei Lemeshevsky said on Wednesday.

"As was planned before, further lunar steps involve the Luna Resource Orbital project and the Luna Resource Lander project. In this regard, we can, indeed, say that the schedule has been shifted to 2021 and 2022. It is surely impossible to work with two planetary missions at Baikonur at a time," he said.

Russia earlier planned the Luna-26 (Luna-Resource Orbital) mission for 2020. The second stage of the mission to Mars is also scheduled for the same term (ExoMars-2020).

The launches of lunar missions may be returned from the Vostochny spaceport in the Russian Far East to the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as Russia’s new space center lacks the necessary infrastructure, Lemeshevsky said.

"Lunar programs from the Vostochny spaceport were discussed but there is no final decision yet. A lot of additional expenses arise there. This relates to the requirements for cleanliness and for work with radioactive isotopes. The question is whether it is expedient to invest extremely large funds in the Vostochny," the Lavochkin chief executive said.

"Technically, the issue has been worked out. We can make launches even from the Vostochny. But there are currently no such premises at the Vostochny and they have to be built. These are not Lavochkin’s expenses. These are the costs of preparing the cosmodrome," he noted.

It was reported earlier that three missions to the Earth’s natural satellite were scheduled aboard Soyuz carrier rockets in 2019-2021: Luna-25, Luna-26 and Luna-27.


More:
http://tass.com/science/956892

Russian, US experts suggest launching satellite and balloons as part of Venus space probe

The Venera-D mission might be launched in 2026

MOSCOW, August 4. /TASS/. The Russian-American team that is fleshing out goals for a mission to Venus, known as Venera-D, suggest using a subsatellite with a mass no large than 120 kg and balloons as additional elements for the space probe, Roscosmos’ press service told on Friday.

"A subsatellite with a mass no large than 120kg for autonomous research and balloons of different construction for operation at an altitude of 50-55km in Venus’s atmosphere, as well as various payload proposed by the scientific community will be considered as additional elements for the space probe," the state corporation said.

It earlier emerged that the Venera-D mission might be launched in 2026.

According to previous reports, Roscosmos and NASA agreed to continue developing a joint mission to Venus in 2017-2018. The Russian side will present the Angara-A5 missile, an orbital module and a large lander for the mission, whereas Americans offer a number of devices and long-life small landers (up to 10kg).

The lander is to be dropped on the planet’s surface from Tesserae. It may be destroyed as Venus has a rocky landscape in these areas. However, it is here, on the place where the planet’s ancient surface is not covered by lava, that traces of past life may be discovered. Scientists also plan to study the greenhouse effect on the planet to avoid catastrophic heating of the Earth in the future.


More:
http://tass.com/science/959179

The Venera-D mission might be launched in 2026

Whoa there Roskosmos and NASA, what's the rush?

Why not launch in 2036? Or better yet, 2046?

Ideally it would be done in 2056, but that's just me...  

Who says scientific space projects are undefined and underprioritized, eh?

PapaDragon wrote:

The Venera-D mission might be launched in 2026

Whoa there Roskosmos and NASA, what's the rush?

Why not launch in 2036? Or better yet, 2046?

Ideally it would be done in 2056, but that's just me...  

Who says scientific space projects are undefined and underprioritized, eh?

NASA is just fucking Roscosmos.... stringing them along in a pretend relationship, whispering sweet nothings, but with every intention of jumping ship when its convenient and leaving Roscosmos with nothing to show after 10 years of hopes and dreams....

Russians need to get over their fantasy that they and the current US Oligarchic Deep State can ever be friends or allies. Murican exceptionalists don't accept anyone as their equals, and have respect for NO-ONE. NASA is simply not permitted to help Russia achieve any of its aims (until she gets down on bent knee and swears fealty to a US-dominated globalist NWO).

Big_Gazza wrote:
NASA is just fucking Roscosmos....  stringing them along in a pretend relationship, whispering sweet nothings, but with every intention of jumping ship when its convenient and leaving Roscosmos with nothing to show after 10 years of hopes and dreams....

Russians need to get over their fantasy that they and the current US Oligarchic Deep State can ever be friends or allies.  Murican exceptionalists don't accept anyone as their equals, and have respect for NO-ONE.  NASA is simply not permitted to help Russia achieve any of its aims (until she gets down on bent knee and swears fealty to a US-dominated globalist NWO).

I totally agree with you. Yes NASA do have a huge budget and impressive achievements in space as well but those Wall Street bastards won't let them to help others.

Roscosmos needs more money and support thats why they are looking overseas. But they should focus on Europe, Chinese, Japan, India or even to Iran rather than NASA for joint operations. Or try to lure any private companies. If you can give them the smell of huge profits, they'll come ASAP. Even I think SpaceX can be get in cooperation by that

T-47 wrote:

Big_Gazza wrote:
NASA is just fucking Roscosmos....  stringing them along in a pretend relationship, whispering sweet nothings, but with every intention of jumping ship when its convenient and leaving Roscosmos with nothing to show after 10 years of hopes and dreams...........

I totally agree with you. Yes NASA do have a huge budget and impressive achievements in space as well but those Wall Street bastards won't let them to help others.

Roscosmos needs more money and support thats why they are looking overseas. But they should focus on Europe, Chinese, Japan, India or even to Iran rather than NASA for joint operations. Or try to lure any private companies. If you can give them the smell of huge profits, they'll come ASAP. Even I think SpaceX can be get in cooperation by that

NASA science division itself has budget issues, you can't pin this on them, like in Russia they are budgetary red headed stepchild.

And Roskosmos should stop looking for sugar daddy abroad, they wasted 3 decades and have nothing to show for it, it's not happening.

They need to drop that bullshit altogether, grow a pair of balls, put together a plan and ask for fucking money from where it's supposed to come: Russian state budget.

Stop sticking your head in the sand and make some noise.

First tests of the ExoMars descent module

In October, NPO Lavochkin announced that the first tests of the structural mockup of the descent module for the ExoMars-2020 mission had taken place at the company's assembly hall. The commission overseeing the project also discussed the quality of assembly, the installation of scientific instruments, the laying of the pipelines with safe clearances and the next steps in mocking up the cable network of the vehicle.

The test program envisioned four additional phases, which were aimed to check design decisions, ensure manufacturing feasibility of the vehicle and the interface of its components, instruments and other elements, NPO Lavochkin's publication said.



http://www.russianspaceweb.com/exomars2018-2017.html#07

Launch of Russia’s lunar landing module scheduled for 2019

Russia plans to dispatch the Lunar-25 research landing module to the Earth’s natural satellite in 2019, the Luna-26 orbiter in 2021 and the Luna-27 lander in 2022

MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. The launch of Russia’s Luna-25 lunar landing station is scheduled for 2019, with no delays in the timeframe of the mission’s commencement, the Lavochkin Research and Production Association (the lander’s manufacturer) told TASS on Thursday.

"Under the schedule, the launch of the Luna-25 mission is planned for 2019," the Lavochkin Research and Production Association said.

Some media outlets reported on Thursday that the launch of the Luna-25 lander had allegedly been rescheduled for 2020.

As was reported earlier, Russia plans to dispatch the Lunar-25 research landing module to the Earth’s natural satellite in 2019, the Luna-26 orbiter in 2021 and the Luna-27 lander in 2022.

The Luna-25 project aims to launch an automatic probe for research in the Moon’s South Pole. The module is expected to land in the Boguslavsky crater to analyze the composition of regolith, the lunar dust, carry out stereo-photography for preparing the surface’s 3D map and identify the lander’s coordinates with millimeter accuracy using a laser angled reflector.

The last Soviet lunar mission was dispatched in 1976 when the Luna-24 probe made a soft landing, took soil samples and returned them to the Earth.

Two possible sites for Luna-25 probe’s landing

Russian scientists have chosen two possible sites for the Luna-25 research mission to land on the Moon’s surface, the press office of the Space Research Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences said.

"Overall, two landing sites were chosen in accordance with engineering and scientific data. These are the basic area located to the north of the Boguslavsky southern polar crater with the coordinates of about 69.5 degrees south latitude and 43.5 degrees east longitude, and the reserve area to the southwest of the Manzinus crater with the coordinates of about 68.8 degrees south latitude and 21.2 degrees east longitude, correspondingly. The delay in the time of landing in the reserve area is about two days compared to the landing in the basic area," the Institute said.

The Boguslavsky crater that was used as a model to simulate landing was not included in the list of favorable landing sites, the press office said.

The scientists were looking for landing areas using maps compiled on the basis of data of the US Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, including on the basis of data of the LAND neutron detector developed by the Institute.

"The descent probe will land under the scenario of the last Soviet landing missions, i.e. the module will move along the low polar orbit around the Moon and will then decelerate and make a vertical descent. Compared to the landings of Soviet automatic probes, the last of which took place in 1976, the Luna-25 lander will for the first time in the history of cosmonautics be sent to the Moon’s polar area," the Institute said.

The conditions of the module’s descent and work on the Moon’s surface have set specific engineering requirements for the landing areas. The surface slope should not exceed 7% and the illumination by the Sun should be no less than 40% of the lunar day and the space vehicle’s constant radio-visibility from the Earth should be ensured, the press office said.

"From the viewpoint of the mission’s scientific goals, the selected areas should have a sufficient high content of hydrogen in the substance, which indicates the present of frozen water in the soil," the Institute said.


More:
http://tass.com/science/986909

Putin promises to push ahead with Russia’s lunar program

Putin recalled that in the first phase a space station would be created in the Moon’s orbit

MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed Russia’s determination to push ahead with its lunar program.

When asked by cosmonauts during a visit to the pavilion Kosmos (Space) at the VNDKh exhibition center if a manned mission to the Moon was on Russia’s future agenda, he replied with an unequivocal "Yes, it is."

"As you may know the program extends up to 2030," he went on to say. "The finishing touches are being put to the spacecraft Federatsiya and research and development is on for building a super-heavy rocket to be used for the lunar program. So there can be no doubts we will be working actively and implementing this program."

Putin recalled that in the first phase a space station would be created in the Moon’s orbit.

"A Moon orbiter will come first. Then modules on the Moon itself will emerge. At least that’s what the plans are," Putin said. "I hope they will come true.


More:
http://tass.com/science/999370

Regarding NASA trying to use the Russians to get to Venus... I rather suspect they want access to information about how Soviet probes continued to operate in the harsh environment for so long... once they get that data they would likely drop the Russians like an earth rock and do it themselves...

Russia should not cooperate with the US in anything, because the US will just use it as propaganda... in the discovery video of the mission they probably wont even mention Russia in the two hour special on how US know how defeated the challenge of Venus...

Like their famous Mars Rovers, which are based on russian designs and full of russian equipment.

Roscosmos chief specifies time-frame for Russian lunar program’s launch

Russia’s lunar program will start in 2021

MOSCOW, August 10. /TASS/. Russia’s lunar program will start in 2021, Head of the State Space Corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin wrote on Twitter on Friday.

"The Lavochkin Research and Production Association is the leading developer of the Russian lunar program, which will begin from 2021," Rogozin wrote on Twitter, commenting on the appointment of Vladimir Kolmykov as the Lavochkin chief executive.

Roscosmos Deputy Chief Mikhail Khailov earlier said that the first mission of Russia’s Luna-Glob (Moon-Globe) lunar program was expected to be launched approximately in 2020-2021. The project aims to launch an automatic probe to study the area in the Moon’s South Pole. The module is expected to land in the Boguslavsky crater.


More:
http://tass.com/science/1016800

Russian specialists develop flight equipment for ExoMars-2020 mission

The first stage of the ExoMars project was launched in 2016

MOSCOW, March 22. /TASS/. Specialists of the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company have completed the development of flight equipment for electric power supply under the ExoMars-2020 project, Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos said in a statement posted on Facebook on Friday.

"The Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company has completed the work on making the flight equipment for the international Mars exploration project. The specialists have created an electric power supply automatics and voltage stabilization system and have also made an onboard cable network," the statement says.

Roscosmos has said that the new equipment will supply the landing module developed for the mission with electric power. The equipment has undergone the required tests and sterilization, the corporation said.

The ExoMars-2020 mission’s spacecraft is designed to deliver the Russian landing platform to Mars for placing the European rover onto the Red Planet’s surface. After disembarking the rover, the platform will begin to work as a longtime autonomous research station for studying the composition and properties of Martian surface and atmosphere. The European rover will house the Pasteur scientific laboratory to study directly the surface and the atmosphere of Mars in the landing area, search for compounds and substances that could testify to the possible existence of life on Mars.

The first stage of the ExoMars project was launched in 2016 and the mission included the TGO (Trace Gas Orbiter) apparatus and the Schiaparelli demonstrator landing module, which reached the Red Planet in October 2016.

The key goal of the TGO mission is to gain a better understanding of methane and other atmospheric gases present in the Martian atmosphere that could be evidence for possible biological or geological activity.

The Schiaparelli landing demonstrator vehicle was expected to practice maneuvers to enter the Martian atmosphere, descend and land on the Red Planet before the launch of the mission’s second stage but failed to make a soft landing and crashed.


More:
http://tass.com/science/1050023

Russian Academy of Sciences recommends to start implementing Venus exploration project

Earlier reports said that the estimated cost of development works in preparation for implementing the Venera-D project will stand at around 17 bln rubles

MOSCOW, June 12. /TASS/. The Russian Academy of Sciences' Council for Space Research has suggested to Russia's Roscomos space corporation to start implementing the Venera-D (Venus-D) project and finance the first stages of development works, the council's co-chair Lev Zeleny told TASS on Wednesday.

"The corresponding request was sent to Roscosmos. Roscosmos is working on it," Zeleny said.

TASS has not yet managed to obtain a comment from Roscosmos.

Zeleny reminded that the RAS Council for Space Research discussed the Venera-D project at its last session and recommended to start implementation. "The RAS Council supported this project," he noted.

Earlier reports said that the estimated cost of development works in preparation for implementing the Venera-D project will stand at around 17 bln rubles.

The baseline concept of the Venera-D mission calls for an orbiter, which will study the planet from outer space, and a lander, which is expected to operate on Venus’s surface for a few hours. One of the mission’s objectives is to trace signs of life in the past and nowadays in Venus’ unfavorable conditions. Besides, the scientists plan to study greenhouse effect on the planet.


More:
http://tass.com/science/1063455

Final trials of ExoMars mission to begin in March 2020

The ExoMars-2020 mission’s spacecraft is designed to deliver the Russian landing platform to Mars for placing the European rover onto the Red Planet’s surface

https://tass.com/science/1075854

Roscosmos sets task of drafting Venus exploration program

KHIMKI, January 31. /TASS/. Roscosmos has set a task of drafting a Venus exploration program similar in scale to Russia’s lunar program. The new program will incorporate the project Venera-D, the leading designer of the Lavochkin Research and Industrial Association, Dmitry Khmel said.

"Roscosmos has set a task of shaping such a program. It will incorporate Venera-D. The Russian Academy of Sciences’ Space Research Institute supports this idea. We are working on drafts for taking further steps to explore Venus," Khmel said.

https://tass.com/science/1115161

Russia completes firing tests of propulsion unit for ExoMars lander

ExoMars is a joint program of the European Space Agency and Russia’s Roscosmos federal space agency to study Mars set for July-August 2020

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. The propulsion unit of the ExoMars lander module has passed firing tests, the Lavochkin Research and Production Association said in a statement on Tuesday.

"As part of implementing the ExoMars international project, the firing tests of the propulsion unit of the ExoMars spacecraft’s lander were completed on February 27, 2020," the statement runs.

According to the preliminary analysis, the assignments were fulfilled with positive results, the Lavochkin press office reported.

ExoMars is a joint program of the European Space Agency and Russia’s Roscosmos federal space agency to study Mars. The mission will be launched in July-August 2020 by a Proton-M carrier rocket with a Briz-M booster from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The project aims to study the Martian surface, its atmosphere and climate.

https://tass.com/science/1126123

Why are they cooperating with the euros, the euros will insist on the use of european made components designed by some random housewife or zoo animal because the liberals cannot alow the employment of men and this will result in rockets exploding left right and centre.

Russian cosmonauts could die due to the involvement of inferior minds in thier space program.

The-thing-next-door wrote:Why are they cooperating with the euros, the euros will insist on the use of european made components designed by some random housewife or zoo animal because the liberals cannot alow the employment of men and this will result in rockets exploding left right and centre.

Russian cosmonauts could die due to the involvement of inferior minds in thier space program.

There is no human space flight involved. And Russia will not depend on any EU-tard components. This is just a joint science mission.
In other words, some diplomatic window dressing. Russia does not base its space sector on such activity.

But there is too much of such diplomacy. Russia has loose plans to restart Venus exploration. They should make this a national
priority. It involves developing high temperature electronics technology using silicon nitride and similar. So the lander can operate
for 24 hours before failing from being in a 700 K atmosphere. This sort of unique technology would be useful for Russian
military capability.

He is a retard.

Euros don't launch what Russia does In a year. And half the components are from Russia in their exomars program. The companies who been making space based components longer than the euros ever did still make them today.

ExoMars 2020 will result in Russia having a workable lander design for Mars surface science missions (even if they have to replace some of the Eurotrash components with domestic equivalents). Add on a cruise stage and they have all they need for their own Mars planetary science campaign.

Sounds like a good result to me.

Big_Gazza wrote:ExoMars 2020 will result in Russia having a workable lander design for Mars surface science missions (even if they have to replace some of the Eurotrash components with domestic equivalents). Add on a cruise stage and they have all they need for their own Mars planetary science campaign.

Sounds like a good result to me.

Russia does not need such science missions to develop its technology. And this science mission is not any sort of charity for Russia.
It is an actual science mission and the EU is leveraging Russian launch capability that it does not have. Nobody forced the EU
to sign an agreement with Russia. It was free to partner up with the yanquis. But the yanquis are in a crisis and their launch costs
are certifiably insane. For example, to launch a mission to Mars costs over $340 million US. And I am talking about missions from over
10 years ago. Russia can send the same payload to Mars on the same trajectory for $60 million. Most of the US cost is gouged by NASA
for "flight control" services.

And right on cue, at least this time they discovered that some moron has been dicking with hammers BEFORE whole thing went up in flames

If only there were some advanced technology capable of recoding and storing images from stationary position...



Russia Finds Defects in Mars, Telecom Rockets – Vedomosti

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/03/11/russia-finds-defects-in-mars-telecom-rockets-vedomosti-a69583
https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2020/03/10/824854-dvuh-raketah-nositelyah?utm_campaign=vedomosti_public&utm_content=824854-dvuh-raketah-nositelyah&utm_medium=social&utm_source=telegram_ved

Russia has detected defective parts in its Proton-M rockets that were set to launch Europe’s first rover on Mars and two communications satellites, the Vedomosti business daily reported Wednesday.

The launch of Russia’s Express 80 and Express 103 satellites on one Proton-M rocket has now been rescheduled for late May instead of March due to the defective parts, the Khrunichev Space Center which builds the rockets announced Tuesday. Another Proton-M is still reportedly due to carry the Russian-European ExoMars-2020 rover to Mars in July.

Both Proton-Ms were revealed to contain defective bolts which made the rockets less durable, Vedomosti cited an unnamed source at Khrunichev as saying.

The latest revelation follows a series of Proton launch failures over the past decade and the discovery of 71 defective Proton rocket engines in 2016. The blunders threw the reliability of the Russian space industry into question.

Vedomosti’s source said that the Roscosmos space agency’s 450-million-ruble ($7.2 million) quality control inspection program for 2019-22 has helped avoid potential tragedies with the launches of flawed rockets.

The ExoMars mission is still expected to launch this July because the defective parts should be replaced within 45 days, according to Vedomosti.

Khrunichev announced Tuesday that it formed a special commission to find and punish those responsible for the flaw.

Sucks that the SpaceNews article couldn't resist including a propaganda claim...

"The unprecedented size and complexity of the parachute system is related to the lander provided by Roscosmos.  A more powerful retropropulsive system on the lander would have allowed the mission to require only one main chute, according to Spoto."

That is total BULLSHIT.  I doubt that the lander and rover combo is heavier than the US Curiosity rover and its "sky-crane" delivery system, so if NASA could get their chutes designed correctly, why can't the Euros?   Regarding the nonsense about more powerful engines, the parachutes only operate in the unpowered portion of the re-entry where speed needs to be dissipated before the descent engines can start.  The engines only fire once the parachutes have done their job - at which point the chutes needs to be jettisoned otherwise they would foul the vehicle.

How typical.  Conceal the failings of the Eurotrash and somehow connive a way to Blame Russia....

What a dirty pack of dishonest s.

Speaking of obvious solutions here is another one that would have kept Roskosmos from making idiots of themselves yet again: use better thrusters

Yup.  The technically illiterate always swallow the BS they are fed.... Well, maybe I'm being unfair to PD, but that comment is simply nonsense.