Roscosmos set about creating a balloon for Venus to replace the American balloon.

After NASA left the Venera-D interplanetary mission, NPO Lavochkin set about creating a domestic balloon to replace the American balloon for the project. In this respect interview “Gazeta.ru” said IKI RAS Lyudmila Zasova, head of the spectroscopy laboratory of planetary atmospheres.

“Developed by Joint Scientific Working Group IKI / Roscosmos – NASA (ONRG), the complex included a balloon probe offered by NASA. Now NPO Lavochkin is creating a balloon probe to replace the American. Soviet probes of the Vega-1 and Vega-2 stations operated in the cloudy layer of Venus in 1985. They were and still are the first balloons to float in the atmosphere of Venus. Both the lander and the lander, including the balloon, enter the atmosphere and then decompose. With the help of the parachute and landing gear, the device descends to the surface and the balloon probe in the atmosphere is brought to cruising altitude.

According to him, it is planned to place a meteorological complex on the balloon, which measures temperature, pressure and wind. “A device must be developed to record aerosol particles. There will be a laser spectrometer with high spectral resolution to measure the concentration of sulphur-containing gases. There will be a gas chromatograph to measure the composition of the atmosphere and clouds at cruise altitude. An experiment is planned to detect lightning. At night, in the region of the spectrum with a wavelength of 1 micrometer, the surface is visible, observations will reveal signs of thermal and perhaps volcanic activity, ”added Zasova.

In 2029, Roskosmos plans to send the Venera-D automatic station to Venus. It will consist of an orbiter and a lander for a comprehensive study of Venus’ atmosphere.