(Image credit: Maxar Technologies) Belarus is assembling troops, which are close to Ukraine's borders. Image licensing: Maxar Technologies
Astronauts often declare how to work on the International Space Station and drive away estrangement and hostility. Right now, two Russian and one European astronaut are living in orbit with four Americans. Seven space floaters are enjoying the fruits of international cooperation, which traces back to the historic Cold War in 1975, when the U.S. Apollo spacecraft docked with russia's Soyuz spacecraft.
But back on Earth, fears of a major conflict in Europe are heating up as more and more Russian troops masse on Ukraine's borders, threatening a full-scale invasion of a sovereign state. UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the development as "the worst global peace and security crisis in recent years".
But what does the geopolitical situation mean for the much-sought-after space cooperation, especially where Europe is working with Russia? Through the European Space Agency (ESA), 22 European countries (of which Ukraine is not one) have become partners in space research and exploration. Roscosmos has been an important partner for many years, participating in some of Europe's most high-profile space exploration activities.
Breaking these bonds is undoubtedly difficult. But when European countries impose sanctions on Russia, they will affect not only Russians, but also Europeans. Will the business and cooperation between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) continue as it has been?
Perhaps the biggest pain point for the European Space Agency is the Rosalind Franklin probe for the extraterrestrial Mars mission, the first European-designed probe to land on Mars. The mission was originally scheduled for launch in 2018, but was delayed due to persistent problems with the landing parachute, which was eventually scheduled for launch from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in September.
For the extraterrestrial Mars mission, this is a long and difficult process. The mission was originally a collaboration between the European Space Agency and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), but the mission was nearly canceled after the Obama administration cut budget cuts forced NASA to withdraw in 2012. The mission is intended to use a six-foot (2-meter) drill to probe trails of organisms beneath the surface of Mars. It wasn't until the Russian Federal Space Agency filled the gap at NASA that the mission was restarted.
In addition to launching ExoMars on a Proton rocket, Russia built the Kaza chok landing platform and provided the probe with several scientific instruments, as well as a trace gas orbiter as part of the first part of the Exo Mars mission. TG O arrived on Mars in 2016 with the experimental Skiaparelli lander, but crashed due to a software failure.
The European Space Agency (ESA) declined to comment on any impact the Russian-Ukrainian situation could have on ExoMars or other joint projects.
But researchers at dozens of institutions in Europe have spent years working to apply their technology to the surface of the Red Planet. And, because of its drill bit, the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin probe is more likely to find any traces of life. Astrobiologists believe Mars may have been more alive than the research of its American counterparts.
"We have worked well with our scientific and engineering colleagues in Russia, including some joint calibration tests this week in Turin, Italy," Andrew Cocts, a professor of physics and planetary scientist at University College London, said in an email.
Coates is the principal investigator of the Pankam instrument, the scientific eye of the Outer Mars Rover, who previously helped build The Constant's main scientific camera, the Masscam-Z, but was also the principal investigator of a failed European attempt on Mars— the 2003 Beagle 2 mission.
So far, he said, he expects the ExoMars probe to launch in 12 days from September 20 to October 1, as planned.
Coates said: "Science transcends politics and we believe everything goes well with the launch. ”
ESA may also face other difficult decisions. European space supplier Ariane Space Company used Russia's Soyuz rocket, as well as the smaller Vega and the larger Ariana 5 launch vehicle, to launch payloads from the European spaceport in Kouru, French Guiana. The European Space Agency said on its website that the cooperation improves Russia's access to the commercial launch market.
According to the same website, ESA plans to work with Russia to develop a future launcher, as well as a series of satellites to study the impact of space on living organisms.
Whatever decisions the European space community makes, the space industry's claims about contributing to international peace may sound rather feeble in the future. Ironically, the International Space Station is arguably the greatest engineering project in human history and one of the hallmarks of post-Cold War cooperation. In 2014, Russia was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize; in the same year, it annexed crimea, a former Ukrainian territory. The war that has raged in the region since then has so far claimed more than 14,000 lives.
Related knowledge
The ExoMars rover is a mission planned by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2022 as part of the ExoMars project, which explores the surface of Mars in collaboration with the Russian space agency Roscosmos. The launch was originally scheduled for 2018, but was postponed to 2020 in May 2016 due to "delays in industrial activities and delivery of scientific payloads" In March 2020, it was further postponed to 2022 due to issues such as parachutes and spacecraft software. The ESA-built rover is scheduled to launch on a Russian proton rocket and land on Mars about nine months after flying. The rover will scan the Martian surface for signs of biological activity in the past or present, and drill holes with various instruments to analyze cores.
The Trace Gas Orbiter will serve as a relay station for the rover to communicate with Earth. [5]
On February 7, 2019, the rover was named Rosalind Franklin in honor of British biochemist Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958), who made a significant contribution to elucidating the double helix structure of DNA. [6]
BY: Tereza Pultarova
FY：Astronomical volunteer team
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