Back to Venus
interview with dmitri Gorinov
As I often write, the Internet is, sometimes, a great place. From the stories I tell in my pages, situations arise in which people who have lived those stories meet online.
It has already happened to me with the story of Soyuz 23 and I had the opportunity to meet the daughter of Commander Zudov, Natalia Zudova, and the granddaughter of one of the doctors in charge of the rescue teams, Maria Chekanova.
And so I can say for the interview obtained by Alexandr Misurkin, the cosmonaut popularizer for the Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow, who lent himself to answering my questions in a short but very interesting interview and who always answers very politely to the questions that every so much I offer.
From their stories, other stories were born in a virtuous circle that is making this project of mine grow like the crown of a tree.
Dmitri Gorinov, amicably called Dmitry, I discovered him during a live broadcast by Passione Astronomia ("Discovering Venus: the Roscosmos Venera-D mission" of 02/09/2023), a channel with which I have an intense collaboration, such as Dmitry, Piero D'Incecco and Nicola Mari, held a conference on the planet Venus and on the exploration missions of the former Soviet Union such as the Venera and the Euro Soviet VeGa. In particular, there was talk of the future Venera-D mission which will represent the return to Venus of the Russian space agency, the only nation to have managed to land on our nearby sister planet.
Dmitri Gorinov
I have talked extensively about the Venera program both in the book "We used pencils!" that in the blog. Always with the friends of Passione Astronomia, during the fifteen evenings held together with them on the history of cosmonautics, we had an entire episode (the seventh: "Distant planets") dedicated to Soviet robotic missions with a conspicuous space dedicated to this can define, unlike Mars, a friendly planet of the Soviet space program. You will therefore understand that that evening, I was in the front row among the "public" to attend the event, and I did not hold back from asking my questions…
Through the members of the group, I got in contact with Dmitry who, very kindly, agreed to answer my five questions (one more than those asked to Misurkin…) therefore, let's not waste any more time: I introduce you to Dmitri Gorinov!
Dmitry is a researcher at the I.K.I. of Moscow (https://iki.cosmos.ru/en). This is the Russian Space Research Institute. It is an institution of the Russian Academy of Sciences that specializes in the scientific applications of space exploration. Half of the time he carries out scientific work on the study of the atmosphere of Venus, using the results of previous missions (Venus Express, Akatsuki). He devotes the other half to the Venera-D project as a science team member who is preparing a list of science instruments for the project's science tasks.
Let's start with the questions:
Representation of the Venera-D probe
Q) Every mission starts with a launch... When is Venera-D expected to launch, from where, and from which launcher?
A) The launch is officially scheduled for 2029, but it is already clear that the deadline will be moved to 2031-32. It is a rather heavy apparatus (orbiter plus lander and accessories), so we will use the Angara-A5 rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome.
D) The Venera-D mission will be an extended mission (as the letter "D" says: Долгоживущая, read Dolgosgjivushaja i.e. "long duration"). How does it differ, for example, from previous missions of the former USSR, such as Venera, or from the Euro-Soviet mission VeGa?
A) Probably, in terms of mission architecture, the project is closest to the VEGA mission. Just like then, we will have a lander and a balloon. There are more than 30 years of difference between "VEGA" and "Venera-D", so the technology will be much more advanced. The lander will be able to analyze soil samples and measure atmospheric parameters with an order of magnitude higher resolution. And the balloon, unlike the short-lived Vega balloon, has to live in the atmosphere for about a month. But, in addition to this, the mission also includes a real orbiter for studying the atmosphere.
The trajectory of the spacecraft using gravity assist (courtesy IKI-RAS - D. Gorinov)
Angara A5 launcher
Q) I've read that high-latitude landing areas are being evaluated, unlike the equatorial belt "explored" in previous missions. This requires, I think, high accuracy in calculating the long trajectory of the lander's descent. How do you deal with the challenges of such an ambitious flight program?
A) Landing at high latitudes guarantees us a stable communication channel between the lander and the orbiter during those few hours that the former will be working on the descent and on the surface. The landing latitude, unlike what you think, has almost no effect on the complexity of the project. If we implement a gravity maneuver before the spacecraft enters the standard orbit, then we will be able to direct the lander to nearly every point on the surface. The main limitation for us, as I said before, is the stability of the communication channel.
Planisphere of Venus with the potential landing zones of Venera-D highlighted
D) As with the VeGa missions, serial samples will be taken from the ground for analysis. I have read that much more samples will be collected than with the Euro-Soviet probes. Will it be possible to do all these analyzes and send the data back to Earth in "operational" time before the probe stops working?
A) Currently we plan to take 3 samples: 1) surface material that can be taken without drilling the surface, 2) the top layer of the surface in direct contact with the atmosphere, and 3) soil at a depth of about 3cm. Two hours on the surface should be sufficient to analyze these samples.
D) Let's talk about the weather balloon that will be released to study the atmosphere. Given the considerable experience gained with the two balloons VeGa-1 and VeGa-2, and with the addition of new instruments, what further data do you expect to receive?
A) We expect the new balloon to live much longer and be able to fly in the planet's atmosphere for a long time. According to the trajectory of its movement, we will be able to determine the speed of the wind, as well as measure the temperature, pressure, and other parameters measured by Vega balloons, but for a longer period of time. In addition, we plan to measure the aerosol properties of the clouds, and the composition of the atmosphere, look for thunderstorm activity in the clouds, and monitor seismic activity using sound waves. A downward-facing infrared camera will analyze the thermal radiation of the surface and find thermal anomalies.
The descent profile of Venera-D (courtesy IKI-RAS - D. Gorinov)
There would be a sixth question: the Venera program after Venera-D, I hope, will have an even more ambitious continuation in the form of a whole mission program. Future missions could use aircraft capable of surviving days, not hours, on the hellish surface of Venus, as well as large aircraft. But here we are talking about scenarios that are too far from us in time and practically not worked out. Maybe we'll come back… Maybe we'll come back to talk to Dmitry about future plans after, as we all hope, Venera D has successfully completed her plan to once again open the way to Venus for human exploration.
I sincerely thank Dmitry for his kindness and patience with me in granting this brief interview, as well as for the accompanying material that he kindly wanted to share. With the hope that his academic career will be full of great satisfaction and that there may be opportunities to meet him in person in the future, we salute him: до скорого! See you soon!
Click here for the Russian language version.
Click here for the Italian language version
The probe balloon of the VeGa mission, very similar to that of Venera-D
