Ukraine invasion’s impacts on space exploration: Live updates: Times Of Nation
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Russia dismisses controversy over cosmonaut flight suits
Russia’s space agency Roscosmos is scoffing at media reports that discussed possible connections between the yellow and blue flight suits worn by three cosmonauts on the International Space Station and Ukraine.
Cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov wore flight suits that were bright yellow with blue patches, the colors of Ukraine, when they boarded the space station on Friday (March 18) after launching to the orbiting lab on a Russian Soyuz rocket earlier in the day. Some media publications (including Space.com) commented on the striking flight suits and their colors.
On Saturday, Roscosmos denied any connection to Ukraine, stating that the flight suits were made long ago and are in the colors of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, where all three cosmonauts graduated.
“Sometimes yellow is just yellow,” Roscosmos wrote on Telegram. “The design of the uniform was agreed upon long before current events.”
Russia uses hypersonic missile in Ukraine attack
Russia has claimed that it used its new Kinzhal hypersonic missile in Ukraine for the first time, marking the ultrafast weapon’s first use in combat. The missile was reportedly used on Friday, March 18, to attack an underground warehouse, according to media reports.
Kinzhal, which means “Dagger” in Russian, is an air-launched missile designed to fly at hypersonic speeds of greater than Mach 5, which is five times the speed of sound and about 3,800 mph (6,100 kph). It is one of several advanced weapons Russia announced in 2018.
The United States, Russia, China and North Korea have all been developing hypersonic weapons due to their speed and maneuverability, which gives them great range and makes them difficult to track and shoot down. Some hypersonic glide weapons are designed to launch on rockets and return to Earth on long glide paths to reach targets around the world.
Russia has reportedly developed one such weapon, a hypersonic incontinental ballistic missile called Avangard.
— Tariq Malik
Russian cosmonauts wear yellow and blue on ISS
Three Russian cosmonauts who launched to the International Space Station on Friday (March 18) donned yellow and blue flight suits when the entered the orbiting lab and joined seven crewmates already aboard once they arrived.
Cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov launched to the station on a Russian Soyuz rocket at 11:55 a.m. EDT on Friday and arrived at the orbiting lab about 3.5 hours later. When they entered the station 2.5 hours later after spacecraft leak checks, they were wearing the brightly colored flight suits that happened to be the same colors as Ukraine’s flag.
It’s unclear if the clothing choice was in support of Ukraine, a school the cosmonauts attended or just a coincidence. But it was definitely noted by former NASA astronauts watching the docking.
“Three Russian cosmonauts who just docked with the ISS arrive in Ukrainian yellow!” former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who flew a yearlong mission on the space station with cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko from March 2015 to March 2016, tweeted Friday, in both Russian and English.
“Wow. Just wow. Well done. За экипаж!” tweeted Terry Virts, another former NASA astronaut. (“экипаж” is Russian for “crew,” according to Google Translate.)
— Tariq Malik
Russia’s Ukraine invasion affects Mars rover mission
A Russian rocket embargo on European countries that have levied harsh sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine will keep a Mars rover stuck on Earth until 2026, the European Space Agency said this week.
ESA’s ExoMars rover was scheduled to launch in September on a Russian-built Proton rocket from the Russian-led Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. But ESA halted all science cooperation with Russia after that country invaded Ukraine. Russia’s space agency Roscosmos then said it would repurpose rockets sold to European and commercial customers, negating the planned September launch of the ExoMars rover.
ESA officials are now weighing their options to try and find a new partner to launch the ExoMars rover by 2026. Doing so will require a new non-Russian built landing platform and a new rocket.
Space.com Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova has the full story here.
— Tariq Malik
Astronaut Scott Kelly to stop Twitter spat with Roscosmos
Former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly said this week that he will back off his Twitter spat with Russia’s space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin after receiving a letter from NASA asking its former astronauts to refrain from remarks that could imperil the ongoing U.S.-Russian cooperation on the International Space Station, according to CNN. Space.com contributor Elizabeth Howell has the story.
Kelly has been vocal on Twitter speaking out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Rogozin answering him directly on Twitter and the two exchanging comments back and forth. Kelly’s brother, Senator Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) has also spoken out against Russia’s invasion from his role as a U.S. Senator.
In other news, an American aerospace engineering student is in Kyiv, Ukraine, where he is studying for a Ph.D.
Space.com Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova spoke with Aaron Hartford about why he chose Kyiv to study aerospace engineering, Ukraine’s space history and the challenges facing its space industry.
— Tariq Malik
St. Jude Clinic in Ukraine gets Starlink terminals
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which researchers cancer treatments for children, announced Monday that its clinic and foundation partners in Ukraine and Poland have received nine Starlink internet terminals provided by the Polaris Program, a private spaceflight project spearheaded by American billionaire Jared Isaacman.
We are humbled to share 9 @SpaceX Starlink units were donated to our clinic & foundation partners in Ukraine and Poland. These units, coordinated by the @PolarisProgram team, provide critical internet connection to treatment centers supporting Ukrainian patients. pic.twitter.com/mqOJDc4bnyMarch 14, 2022
“We are humbled to share 9 SpaceX Starlink units were donated to our clinic & foundation partners in Ukraine and Poland. These units, coordinated by the Polaris Program team, provide critical internet connection to treatment centers supporting Ukrainian patients,” St. Jude representatives wrote in a Twitter statement.
Isaacman’s Polaris Program is a set of three private spaceflights, all on SpaceX rockets, that will launch Isaacman and other crewmates into Earth orbit. The first mission, called Polaris Dawn, will launch by the end of 2022 and carry a crew of four (with Isaacman as commander). It will also feature the world’s first private spacewalk. A second Polaris mission will follow with the third launching on the first crewed flight of SpaceX’s new Starship rocket for deep-space missions.
Here’s the latest space impacts from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- The European Space Agency is meeting this week to discuss the implications of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine as it relates to ESA space projects. “We are assessing the consequences on each of our ongoing programs conducted in cooperation with the Russian state space agency, Roscosmos” as well as with NASA on the International Space Station, ESA officials wrote in a Feb. 28 statement after the invasion began.
- NASA said Monday that American astronaut Mark Vande Hei will still return to Earth on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on March 30 despite U.S. tensions with Russia over the invasion. NASA and Russia’s space agency Roscosmos have both said their joint International Space Station operations have continued as normal amid the invasion.
“I can tell you for sure: Mark is coming home on that Soyuz,” Joel Montalbano, the manager of NASA’s International Space Station program, said during a news conference today (March 14). “We are in communication with our Russian colleagues; there’s no fuzz on that.” - From the Large Hadron Collider to the International Space Station and more, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is having widespread effects on international science. ITER, the world’s largest fusion experiment, the International Science Council and other collaborative projects face challenges.
— Tariq Malik
New satellite photos show artillery firing on Kyiv
New satellite images taken by the WorldView-2 satellite operated by Maxar Technologies has captured views of artillery firing near Kyiv, Ukraine as Russian military forces continue their invasion on that country. Space.com contributor Elizabeth Howell has the full story here.
The new photos were taken on Friday, March 11, and show new views of the fighting and destruction caused by the ongoing war.
Other satellite photos taken on Thursday, March 10, show the impacts of the war across other parts of Ukraine. Destroyed residential buildings and supermarkets were among the civilian targets destroyed in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Two images in particular show views of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which was taken over by Russian military forces early in the conflict. You can see those images below.
Here’s what else that happened in recent days among the space industry as the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine spread.
Satellite images show damage in Mariupol, Ukraine
New satellite images collected by Maxar Technologies on March 8 and 9 reveal severe damage to civilian structures in the besieged city of Mariupol, Ukraine, as well as the movements of armored vehicles elsewhere in the country.
The new images, released Wednesday by Maxar, were taken by the company’s WorldView 2 and WorldView 3 Earth-observing satellites. Imaging of Ukraine from space has been difficult in recent days due to heavy cloud cover over the region, Maxar officials said.
The satellites observed Mariupol on March 9, revealing damage to grocery stores, residential buildings and other civilian structures, including a maternity ward.
On Tuesday, the WorldView 3 satellite observed the region around Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, showing the armored vehicles’ movements.
You can see all of the images and read the full story here.
UK bans space exports to Russia
The United Kingdom on Wednesday banned all space-related exports to Russia as it tightened economic sanctions on the country following its invasion of Ukraine last month.
The U.K’s Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss announced the space export sanctions alongside a more stringent sanctions related to aviation.
“We will continue to support Ukraine diplomatically, economically and defensively in the face of Putin’s illegal invasion, and work to isolate Russia on the international stage,” Truss said in the statement.
Read the full story here.
NASA astronaut to return Russian spaceflight medal
Former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly said today that he will give back a Russian spaceflight medal he received “For Merit in Space Exploration” in protest of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Mr. Medvedev, I am returning to you the Russian medal ‘For Merit in Space Exploration,’ which you presented to me,” Kelly tweeted on Wednesday (in Russian; translation provided by Google). “Please give it to a Russian mother whose son died in this unjust war. I will mail the medal to the Russian embassy in Washington. Good luck.”
He aimed the statement at Dmitry Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s security council and was the nation’s president from 2008 to 2012 and its prime minister from 2012 to 2020.
Kelly has been vocal on Twitter about his opposition to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the country’s ongoing attacks.
Kelly spent nearly a year in space in 2015 and 2016 alongside a Russian cosmonaut as part of a long-duration spaceflight experiment on the International Space Station.
Read the full story here from Spaceflight Editor Mike Wall.
Ukrainian flag headed to space
American billionaire Jared Isaacman and three crewmates will take the Ukrainian flag to space and back later this year on his Polaris Dawn mission, a private spaceflight to be launched by SpaceX, as a show of solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
“We stand with Ukraine and its brave citizens and all those fighting for freedom across the world. The Polaris Dawn crew will take this flag to a place in space that still remains beyond the reach of tyranny,” program officials wrote in a Twitter statement.
Read the full story here.
Isaacman, who financed last year’s Inspiration4 private spaceflight with SpaceX, has bought three more missions on SpaceX rockets that will launch over the next few years. They include a SpaceX Crew Dragon flight that will include the first-ever private spacewalk by the end of 2022, a second flight on a Dragon capsule and the first crewed flight on SpaceX’s new Starship spacecraft. All three missions are being flown under Isaacman’s Polaris Program.
CERN to stop future collaboration with Russia
The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the science agency that oversees the Large Hadron Collider, will not enter into future science collaboration with Russian scientists after a Ukrainian scientists requests a halt to any Russian science cooperation due to that country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
CERN made the announcement today (March 8) after a meeting of the CERN council. You can read the full story by Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova. Ukraine is a associate member of CERN while Russia is not a formal member of the organization.
“The 23 Member States of CERN condemn, in the strongest terms, the military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, and deplore the resulting loss of life and humanitarian impact,” CERN’s council said in a statement. “Deeply touched by the widespread and tragic consequences of the aggression, the CERN Management and personnel, as well as the scientific community in CERN’s Member States, are working to contribute to the humanitarian effort in Ukraine and to help the Ukrainian community at CERN.”
Russian space chief trades barbs with astronaut Scott Kelly
Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, traded Twitter barbs with former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly on Monday (March 7) amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Kelly, who spent nearly a year aboard the International Space Station in 2015 and 2016 and returned to Earth on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, has been a vocal opponent of Russia’s actions in Ukraine. On Sunday (March 6), Kelly tweeted in Russian that the country’s recent covering up of international flags on a Soyuz rocket carrying commercial satellites was harming Russia’s space program.
“Dimon, without those flags and the foreign exchange they bring in, your space program won’t be worth a damn,” Kelly wrote on Twitter. “Maybe you can find a job at McDonald’s if McDonald’s still exists in Russia.”
Rogozin responded with an irate tweet that read: “Get off, you moron! Otherwise the death of the ISS will be on your conscience!” That tweet was soon deleted, and Kelly asked for an explanation. “Dimon, why did you delete this tweet? Don’t want everyone to see what kind of child you are?” Kelly fired back in a tweet on Monday.
Read the full story here.
— Tariq Malik
Димон, ты почему удалил этот твит? Не хочешь, чтобы все увидели, какой ты в сущности ребёнок? pic.twitter.com/xSScT2cSGuMarch 7, 2022
Space partnerships fray amid Russia’s Ukraine invasion
In the days since Russia invaded Ukraine, the effects of the unprovoked attack on Feb. 24 has already reached into space.
A planned launch of a Russian Soyuz rocket on March 4 to deliver 36 OneWeb internet satellites into orbit was canceled after Russia demanded the United Kingdom government, which is a financial backer of OneWeb, divest its holdings in the company and offer assurance the satellites would not be used for military purposes. OneWeb responded by pulling its personnel from the Russian-led Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where the mission was to launch from. The launch is on hold indefinitely.
Russia’s federal space agency Roscosmos has also halted all Russian Soyuz launches from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana, which are conducted by the French launch provider Arianespace.
Germany’s space agency DLR has switched off a black hole-hunting instrument on a Russian satellite and halted science cooperation with Russia. DLR officials placed the eROSITA instrument in safe mode. It is riding on the Russian satellite Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma.
Meanwhile, NASA and Roscosmos have both stated that operation of the International Space Station is continuing as usual. The station is currently home to four American astronauts with NASA, two Russian cosmonauts and one European astronauts. A new Russian crew of three cosmonauts will launch to the station later this month, with American astronaut Mark Vande Hei of NASA and two cosmonauts to return to Earth soon after on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. — Tariq Malik and Chelsea Gohd
Here’s a roundup of the space impacts of Russia’s Ukraine invasion so far.
- U.S. President Joe Biden stated that U.S. sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s incasion will degrade Russia’s space program.
- Satellite images continue to reveal details about the war and military activity, as it is seen from space.
- A compilation of satellite images.
- Images captured by Planet (formerly Planet Labs).
- A 3D video created from high-resolution images taken by Maxar Technologies’ WorldView-3 satellite.
- Images from Maxar Technologies
- SpaceX CEO Elon Musk sent Starlink satellite internet equipment to Ukraine as Russian attacks damaged infrastructure and connectivity.
- U.S. launch providers are reconsidering how they source their rocket components. For example: Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket has a Ukrainian-built first stage that’s powered by two Russian-made engines.
- Despite the ongoing conflict, NASA stated that it will continue to work with Russian space agency Roscosmos as a partner on the International Space Station.
(News Source :Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Times Of Nation staff and is published from a www.space.com feed.)
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