Another Russian Casualty: Mars

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Source/Credit: The Exomars rover from the ESA.

Yesterday, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that another space program has been impacted by the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:

Regarding the ExoMars programme continuation, the sanctions and the wider context make a launch in 2022 very unlikely. ESA’s Director General will analyse all the options and prepare a formal decision on the way forward by ESA Member States.

The ESA website on the Exomars program notes that it is a two part mission searching for life on Mars: the Trace Gas Orbiter launched in 2016 and the Exomars rover and surface platform planned for launch in 2022. NASA also contributed to this latest mission:

NASA’s participation in the 2022 ExoMars Rover mission includes providing critical elements to the premier astrobiology instrument on the rover, the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA). By studying organic molecules, the chemical building blocks of life, MOMA is designed to help answer questions about whether life ever existed on Mars, along with its potential origin, evolution and distribution on the Red Planet.

The list of impacted space missions will only grow.

Ukraine and Starlink

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Source/Credit: Starlink terminals posted in a Ukrainian tweet.

Three cheers for SpaceX’s assistance to Ukraine during this difficult time. After Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov made a plea to SpaceX for assistance with its Internet, Mr. Must approved the shipment of Starlink terminals to Ukraine to allow the country to use the company’s satellites for its communications.

Vice Prime Minister Fedorov had tweeted:

@elonmusk, while you try to colonize Mars — Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space — Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand.

We can haggle about the number of Starlink satellites in orbit another time. Fortunately, such satellites are there when the beleaguered Ukrainians need them.

You can read more about it via The Verge.

Russia Interrupts Space Missions

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Source/Credit: Guiana Space Center launch pads from the ESA.

Be prepared. With the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the related U.S. and European sanctions, we can expect some delays and cancellations in upcoming space missions. The latest news story is Russia’s pull out of the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, leading to the delayed launch of two European Space Agency (ESA) Galileo navigation satellites that were to be sent into orbit on Soyuz rockets.

Director General of Russia’s Roscosmos tweeted:

In response to EU sanctions against our enterprises, Roscosmos is suspending cooperation with European partners in organizing space launches from the Kourou cosmodrome and withdrawing its technical personnel, including the consolidated launch crew, from French Guiana.

Luckily, the world is becoming less and less reliant on Russian rockets. Nonetheless, it would be better for Russia to focus on scientific missions again rather than military missions. Rockets should be aimed at the stars instead of the Ukrainian people.