The war in Ukraine takes place on Earth, but ricochets through space and, in a way, to the planet Mars. Sanctions taken once morest Moscow have indeed resulted in a cascade of repercussions for the space world, industrial, scientific and purely operational consequences, which primarily affect Europe and France because of the cessation of numerous collaborations with Russia.
Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, has thus decided to suspend its Soyuz rocket launches from the Guiana space center in Kourou, flights marketed by Arianespace, and to repatriate its personnel. Immediate fallout: the satellites which were to complete the European constellation Galileo of geolocation as well as the French military satellite CSO-3 no longer have a launcher. In terse press releases, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Center for Space Studies (CNES) said they were counting on “the imminent arrival of the new Vega-C and Ariane-6 launchers on the market” for “consider rescheduling [ces] launches » without specifying whether the satellites now grounded might take off in 2022.
It should also be noted that the last stage of the small European Vega launchers is manufactured… in Ukraine. For many years, the political will to maintain a space industry in the former Soviet republics and to use the know-how of Russian and Ukrainian engineers in terms of motorization has had the effect of integrating elements from the East to several West rockets. Thus, in addition to Vega, United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V launcher, widely used in the United States, currently operates with Russian RD-180 engines. Another example with the Antares rocket, from the American company Orbital Sciences Corporation, which sends the Cygnus supply ship to the International Space Station (ISS): its first stage is built in Ukraine… with Russian engines.
The freezing of collaboration with Moscow in space matters also deals a blow to the European ExoMars mission which, following many postponements, was finally due to leave this year. The heart of ExoMars is the European rover Rosalind-Franklin, which will have the task of drilling the Martian soil up to 2 meters deep to look for traces of past life. But before that, this mobile robot will have to take off on board a Russian Proton rocket and land on Mars on board a descent module, also Russian.
You have 58.56% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
:quality(70):focal(2289x880:2299x890)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/liberation/6D2OPAUHKZF7NO3RR6LGJKU4KA.jpg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1)
