Abstract: | A new phase of Venus research has started in Russia; the Federal Space Program includes the Venera-D design with the launch of the spacecraft scheduled for 2016. The mission comprises an orbiter, a descent vehicle, and balloon probes. The balloon probes will be placed at different altitudes in the cloud layer and under the clouds, where they are intended to last for a long time in the atmosphere of Venus. The successful implementation of the design will allow solving of quite a number of scientific tasks for comparative planetology. |