The international tension over Russian military attack on Ukraine and the economic punishment measures imposed by Western countries on the country governed by Vladimir Putin could affect collaboration in space and more specifically the International Space Station.
After the announcement made by Joe Biden this Thursday in which he assured that the Russian space industry would be compromised by the sanctions, the director of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, issued a warning to the international community
“Do you want to block our access to radiation-resistant microelectronics for space purposes? Do you want to ban all countries from launching their spacecraft on the most reliable Russian rockets in the world? Do you want to destroy our cooperation on the ISS?“, he asked himself.
He then made a threat. “If you block cooperation with us, Who will save the International Space Station from an uncontrolled exit from orbit and a fall in the United States or… in Europe?noted Rogzin, who suggested the “possibility” of “a 500-ton structure falling on India and China”: “Do you want to threaten them with such a possibility? The International Space Station does not fly over Russia, therefore all risks are yours. Are you ready for them?”
The ISS is a space infrastructure in which the USA, the European Union, Russia, Japan and Canada collaborate and serves as a permanent microgravity research laboratory where studies on astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology, or physics are conducted.
Following these statements by the director of Roscosmos, NASA was quick to release a statement calling for calm and assured that their commitment to the Russian space agency remained intact and that “no changes are planned in the agency’s support for ongoing operations in orbit and ground stations.”
Following the statement from the US space agency, Dmitry Rogozin has assured that his “concerns have been resolved”although he has asserted that they continue to “analyze the new US sanctions” to “detail” their “response.”
Source: Lasexta
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
