The international ISS space station project became a political pawn in the Ukraine war. What is the impact of the conflict?
The International Space Station (ISS) orbits the earth about 400 kilometers above the earth’s surface at the edge of the atmosphere. It is a project of 16 countries – and in the Ukraine war it is increasingly becoming a means of exerting political pressure. It actually only works if everyone is pulling in the same direction, and yet there have recently been more and more reports that make you sit up and take notice and sometimes sound like a threat. So how is the Ukraine war affecting international work in space?
The ISS orbits the earth approximately once every 93 minutes. The career of the station has to be corrected again and again. The corrections of the course are so far carried out by Russian “Progress” spacecraft. Without the fix, the ISS would slow down and could eventually crash uncontrollably. This fact was picked up by the head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, in a series of tweets. He claimed that US President Joe Biden was trying to weaken Russia’s “aerospace industry, including its space program,” he writes mirror.
Ukraine war with repercussions in space: head of Russian space agency provoked
Rogozin asked a question that many interpreted as a blatant threat in connection with the Ukraine war: “Who will then save the ISS from an uncontrolled descent from orbit and a fall on the USA or Europe?” The risks are not small Russia, since the station would not circle over its territory.
The ISS is a project that only came about through international cooperation in space and can only continue to function through this cooperation, many emphasize and criticize the alleged threat.
Security expert Frank Sauer from the Bundeswehr University in Munich clearly interpreted Rogozin’s statement as a threat and spoke of a “Russian mafia in space”. He pointed out that the ISS could very well fall on Russian territory if it were to crash. Former German astronaut Reinhold Ewald also gave the opposite mirror indicated that Rogozin’s testimony was “completely unqualified”. Of course, the ISS also flies over Russian territory.
Ukraine conflict affects work in space – experts say the ISS is unlikely to crash
NASA and Roscosmos, meanwhile, issued statements saying both agencies are still working toward a crew-swap deal that would see former Cold War rivals routinely fly each other’s spacecraft to the ISS free of charge to fly. According to experts, the fact that the course corrections have continued to be made by the Russian side does not indicate a deliberate attempt to cause a crash.
Josef Aschbacher, head of the European Space Agency (ESA), tweeted: “Regardless of the current conflict, civil space cooperation remains a bridge.” ESA continues to work on all its programmes, including the ISS and ExoMars launch campaign, to fulfill the commitments to the Member States and partners, Aschbacher continues. However, he also seems to sense that the circumstances are tense: “We continue to monitor the development of the situation.”
Technology for European and American missiles from Ukraine
Another problem, exacerbated by Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, concerns the astronauts stationed on the ISS. They must be able to rely on the fact that their journey there and back is coordinated through targeted cooperation between the nations on Earth.
The ESA in particular is dependent on both the USA and Russia. As Roscosmos has withdrawn its staff from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou in response to sanctions against Russia, ESA said: “We will select the appropriate launch service for each European institutional payload for which we are responsible, based in particular on the currently in Launchers currently in service and the future Vega-C and Ariane 6 launchers.” By using the Vega and Ariane launchers one would not be dependent on the Russian Soyuz launchers. the mirror writes in connection with the withdrawal of Russian employees from an abrupt stop of flights.
Although there is an alternative plan as to which missiles could otherwise be used, the variants mentioned are partly dependent on deliveries from the conflict areas. Among other things, the European Vega rocket, which could be used instead of the Soyuz rockets, uses components from a Ukrainian manufacturer, writes Jonathan McDowell, astronomer at Harvard University’s Center of Astrophysics.
Raise the ISS without Russian technology – a first attempt
Before the Ukraine conflict escalated into war on February 24, the Cygnus – a supply spaceship – was launched from the USA to the ISS. For the first time, instead of the Russian variant, it is intended to correct the course of the ISS by raising the station. For this purpose, the main drive of the spaceship was modified.
If the project works as planned, it could somewhat reduce dependence on cooperation with Russia for the necessary course corrections of the ISS. It should also be mentioned that the Cygnus was flown to the ISS with rockets built in Russia.(mda)
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