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The Venera-D (Russian: Венера-Д) probe is a proposed Russian space probe to Venus, to be launched around 2016[1]. Venera-D's prime purpose is to make remote-sensing observations around the planet Venus in a manner similar to that of the U.S. Magellan spacecraft in the 1990s, but with the use of more powerful radar. Venera-D is also intended to map future landing sites.
Venera-D is the first Russian-built probe to Venus (all past "Venera" probes were launched by the former Soviet Union). Venera-D will serve as the flagship for a new generation of Russian-built Venus probes, culminating with a lander capable of withstanding the harsh Venusian environment for more than the 1½ hours logged by the Soviet-era probes. In order to keep research and development costs down, the new Venera-D probe will most likely resemble the Soviet-era probes, but will rely on new technologies developed by Russia since its last Venus missions (Vega 1 and Vega 2 in 1985). Venera-D will most likely be launched on the venerable Proton booster, but may be designed to be launched on the more powerful Angara rocket instead.
Venera-D will follow on the coat-tails of the Phobos-Grunt mission, the first Russian Mars mission since the 1990s.
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