This May 2016 photo shows the planet
Venus, seen from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Akatsuki probe.
Picture: J. Greaves/Cardiff University/JAXA via AP
Russia claims ownership of Venus, plans intergalactic
mission
By Storm Gifford/New York Daily News
New York - Everybody wants to rule the
world, claims Tears for Fears, but Russia has set its sights beyond Earth.
Dmitry Rogozin, the director of Roscosmos
- a Russian-run cosmonaut and aerospace research corporation - indicated
earlier this week that his nation is organizing an intragalactic mission to
Venus, reported TASS.
"We think that Venus is a Russian
planet, so we shouldn't lag behind," asserted Rogozin. "Projects of
Venus missions are included in the united government program of Russia's space
exploration for 2021-2030."
The second planet from the sun, also
referred to as Earth's twin, is - on a good day - a mere 25 million miles away.
If the distance is a putoff, consider that the surface temperature is a balmy
900 degrees - hot enough to melt lead.
Rogozin's statement followed the
revelation that the Earth gas known as phosphine had been detected in Venus'
atmosphere.
The European Space Agency states Russians,
and formerly the Soviets, are no strangers to Venus, having commenced
significant planetary research in 1967.
"Russia has still preserved its
unique expertise in designing and developing landing craft for Venus and
continues to define scientific tasks for those craft," noted the agency on
its website.
But Rogozin's claim of Russian ownership
of Venus is off the mark.
The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 -
originally drafted by the US, Soviet Union and UK - strictly forbids any
country from staking claim to galactic entities.
"Outer space, including the moon and
other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of
sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means," reads
Article II of the pact.
Currently, 110 nations are party to the
Outer Space Treaty, according to the United Nations Office for Disarmament
Affairs.
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