MOSCOW, August 17./TASS/. Specialists from the Space Research Institute (IKI) at the Russian Academy of Sciences have started work on a mission to get soil from Venus to the Earth, IKI Science Advisor Lev Zelenyi told TASS on Monday

"We are working on this. This interesting task was set, but it is very difficult," Zelenyi said.

This task can be put into practice within the framework of a new program to explore Venus. The science advisor suggested that attempts to bring soil to the Earth would most likely be made with the use of next generation vehicles, not with the help of Venera-D, since a unique launch system would be required.

In mid-May, Zelenyi told TASS that a new program to explore Venus would be developed, envisaging the dispatch of at least three scientific vehicles. According to the scientist, the first expedition within the framework of the program would be Venera-D space mission, planned for the end of the 2020s. The previous program to explore Venus dates back to the USSR times.