The diplomatic tensions between Russia and the West are reflected concretely in space. The ISS might be at the heart of the issues between Russia and the United States.
The conflict between Ukraine and Russia might well be exported to space. Many experts point out that difficulties in the field are beginning to arise. The Russian space agency Roscosmos has already announced on Saturday that it is withdrawing from Guyana following sanctions from France, thus condemning the launches of Soyuz rockets.
Threat of “inevitable deorbiting” of the ISS
But it’s a much more startling statement that has rocked the space world in recent days. Dimitri Rogozin, the boss of Roscosmos hastened to comment on Twitter on the announcement of Western economic sanctions once morest Russia.
“It is our Progress ships that provide the correction of the station’s orbit to prevent collisions with space debris in an earth orbit polluted by your talented businessmen. If you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS once morest its inevitable deorbit and fall on the territory of the United States and Europe?” Threatened between the lines the Russian CEO. And to add: “There is also a risk of this 500-ton construction falling on India or China.”
NASA is not overreacting
Shocking words that did not fail to react. For its part, NASA responded in a diplomatic tone, as usual. “NASA continues to work with all of its international partners, including the State Space Corporation Roscosmos, for the safety of ongoing International Space Station operations,” the US administration commented.
In reality, the Russians have little chance of destabilizing the ISS and crashing the station on Earth, as reported by our colleagues from Futura Sciences. On the other hand, Russia might decide to destroy one of its satellites, which might generate a lot of debris and disrupt the operation of the satellites of other nations, in particular the Americans. Civil (meteorological, observation) and military satellites might be impacted.