France abandoned plans to build, together with Russia, instruments for an Indian orbiter that Delhi wanted to launch to Venus. This was announced on August 13 by the Deputy Director of the Space Research Institute (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences for the support of the ExoMars project, the head of the Department of Planetary Physics of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI RAS) Oleg Korablev.
The device created by IKI RAS is intended for studying the surface of Venus by spectroscopy. During the development, it was previously assumed that some of the components would be produced in France, but Paris refused to participate in the project.
“This question [с компонентами] we have decided that we are conducting all the preparatory stages, we are looking for suppliers, everything is in order. Unfortunately, at the initiative of the French Space Agency, they no longer seek to participate in this project, but we can buy everything ourselves, ”said Korablev in an interview with TASS.
Now, instead of French parts, the Indian apparatus will be equipped with Russian-made parts, this point has already been agreed with Roscosmos, Korablev added. However, the timing of the production of parts may be delayed, since the corporation has not yet approved the Indian project and has not provided the IKI RAS with the necessary funding.
The launch of India’s mission to Venus is scheduled for December 2024, and the station will enter the planet’s orbit by 2025. The launch date is chosen at the moment when the Earth and Venus will be close enough to each other and it will be possible to reach Venus with minimal fuel consumption. The launch window is very limited, and if the program is delayed, the next opportunity for India will not appear until 2031.
On August 8, the first French astronaut, brigadier general, Hero of the Soviet Union Jean-Loup Chretien, in an interview with Izvestia, expressed regret about the curtailment of international cooperation in astronautics due to anti-Russian sanctions. At the same time, he shared that he was still very proud of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and he had very touching memories of Russia.
On August 12, Roskosmos announced that it would present for the first time a model of the new Russian orbital station at the Army-2022 international military-technical forum, which will be held from August 15 to 21. As noted, among the qualities and capabilities of the new station are large energy for targeted tasks, unification of modules, the ability to interact with promising satellite constellations.
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