MOSCOW. Nov 8 (Interfax-AVN) - The Federal Space Agency has announced a tender for a solar research vehicle, Interhelio Probe, and a land-based control and information processing station.
The price of the contract is 200 million rubles. The project will be fulfilled from 2010 through 2012, says a report posted on the Zakupki.gov.ru website.
The probe, which will be launched with a Soyuz 2-1B rocket, will study the Sun and its surroundings from the distance of 21-28 million kilometers. There will be a land control and data processing station.
The probe will function for no less than seven years.
"Phobos Grunt and Spectrum technologies will be used in the project," the report said.