MOSCOW (Sputnik) – NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos are discussing a joint mission to the Venus, Lev Zeleny, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Space Research Institute, said.
“In October this year a joint working group proposed several scenarios of the project, in which Russian and US competences are complementing each other. After that we had a conversation with NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman, she confirmed interest to the project Venera-D," Zeleny told the Izvestiya newspaper.
He noted that the project had been discussed for two years.
The NASA press service told the newspaper that Newman really discussed the issue but pointed out that no formal agreements had been reached.
Scientists proposed to start the mission in 2026 but the Roscosmos is not sure about the date because of decreased financing.