The Roscosmos State Corporation is reviewing its priorities and will focus on the task of full import substitution in the field of space instrumentation.

This was announced by the head of the state corporation Dmitry Rogozin.

“The main design, technological and financial resources released from joint international research projects with the United States and the European Union will now be directed to the creation of exclusively defense and dual-use space systems,” he wrote in his Telegram channel.

Recall, on February 25, the European Union banned the supply of goods to Russia for use in the space or aviation industry.

According to experts, the most urgent need has developed today to replace the import of electronics and some alloys that work in the space industry.

As Ivan Moiseev, head of the Space Policy Institute, noted in an interview with RT, the prerequisites for Russia to lag behind in electronics have been going on since the days of the USSR.

  • Dmitry Rogozin

  • RIA News

  • © Evgeny Biyatov

“There is always an opportunity to compensate imports that have fallen under arrest.

But you need to understand that imported components were introduced into space technology a long time ago - there were reasons for this.

And we started import substitution only in 2014,” the expert recalled.

Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics named after K.E.

Tsiolkovsky Andrei Ionin agrees that the situation in a number of areas is not simple.

“Under the conditions of sanctions, Russian space has existed since the times of the USSR, in 2014 they simply intensified, and now they can intensify even more.

However, in recent years, Russia has also learned how to solve such problems.

Now we can count on closer cooperation in this area with China, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.

According to Ionin, in 2014, Beijing still hoped that it could establish and maintain good relations with Washington.

“Now China has no such illusions, it is itself in a state of technological war with the West.

Accordingly, he is set to work closely with Russia.

This will help us cope with the consequences of the sanctions,” the expert is sure.

Commenting on the new Western sanctions, Dmitry Rogozin said that Russia would be able to replace these supplies of electronics needed for the space industry with imports of components from China.

Impact on science

The European Union also agreed to suspend cooperation with Russia on research projects in the space sector.

Earlier it became known about the shutdown of the German telescope, which worked at the Spektr-RG observatory. 

Spektr-RG is an X-ray observatory designed to create a map of the electromagnetic radiation of the Universe visible in the X-ray range.

The observatory has two telescopes, the German eROSITA and the Russian ART-XC.

As Roskosmos stated, the shutdown of the German telescope caused damage to the entire scientific program.

The corporation noted that European countries are now grossly violating partnership agreements and evading explanations.

  • Space observatory "Spektr-RG"

  • RIA News

  • © Sergey Mamontov

Another Russian-European scientific project, the Martian mission ExoMars, which was scheduled to launch in 2022, has also become a victim of political confrontation.

However, now the European Space Agency (ESA) has made it clear that it is suspending its participation in the project.

“With regard to the continuation of the ExoMars program, sanctions and the broader context make a launch in 2022 very unlikely,” the agency said in a statement released on February 28.

Experts note that research projects such as ExoMars and Spektr-RG are being implemented not in the interests of any one country, but of the entire scientific community.

“So in the end, everyone will lose.

First of all, the Germans themselves, as well as the entire scientific community, which will now not receive part of the data.

Our telescope will continue to work, but you need to understand that when working in pairs, the effect of these telescopes is multiplied,” Ivan Moiseev explained.

The refusal of the EU to participate in the ExoMars mission will be a very serious blow to Russian-European cooperation, the expert is sure.

“Now ESA is saying that it is unlikely that the mission will be launched in the 2022 window – and it opens every two years, so in any case, the launch of the mission will be delayed until 2024,” Moiseev explained.

The Russian side's response to European sanctions was the suspension of cooperation on space launches at the Kourou cosmodrome.

“In response to EU sanctions against our enterprises, Roskosmos 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,” Rogozin said.

According to the head of Roskosmos, the European countries themselves will suffer because of the sanctions confrontation they have begun, because the European Union today does not have ships capable of replacing the Russian Soyuz-2 missiles.

Such devices may appear in the EU only in two or three years, Rogozin believes.

  • Kourou Spaceport

  • RIA News

  • © Sergey Mamontov

We are talking about new vehicles being developed in the EU - for example, the Ariane 6 launch vehicle should in the future replace its predecessor, the European Ariane 5 heavy rocket. The first launch of Ariane 6, like the other new Vega-C launch vehicle, is planned by the European Space Agency for 2022

According to EU Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton, the union will "timely" take all "appropriate measures" in response to this decision of Moscow.

“We are ready to act decisively together with Member States to protect these critical infrastructures in the event of aggression and continue to work on Ariane 6 and Vega-C to ensure Europe's strategic autonomy in the field of launch vehicles,” the European Commissioner said in a statement.

Ivan Moiseev believes that the EU is likely to be able to create an alternative to Russian missiles in the long term.

However, work in the foreseeable future will be disrupted.

“The refusal to cooperate at the Kourou cosmodrome is a strong step on the Russian side, the EU will suffer several already planned space launches,” the expert noted.

"Instant Partner"

Washington is also stepping up sanctions pressure against Russia in connection with the Russian special operation in Ukraine.

Earlier, the head of the White House, Joe Biden, said that the new package of anti-Russian restrictions would include restrictions on the supply of high-tech products to Russia.

“According to our estimates, our actions and the actions of our allies and partners will cut off more than half of high-tech imports for Russia.

This will deal a blow to her ability to modernize her military.

It will lead to the degradation of its aerospace industry, including its space program, ”said the US President.

  • Joe Biden

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Anna Moneymaker

Commenting on this statement by the American leader, Dmitry Rogozin recalled that the termination of US-Russian cooperation in space could lead to the fall of the ISS.

The fact is that the station's orbit is corrected by the engines of the Russian Progress MS cargo spacecraft.

“If you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from an uncontrolled deorbit and fall into the United States or Europe?

There is still the option of dropping a 500-ton structure on India and China, ”Rogozin wrote on Telegram.

He also recalled that the United States had already blocked Russia's access to radiation-resistant space microelectronics, but this did not lead to a halt in the Russian space program.

At the same time, the sanctions did not prevent coordination between NASA and Roscosmos, the interaction continues as usual.

This was previously stated by the head of the NASA manned flight program Kathy Lueders.

She stressed that both parties continue to cooperate within the framework of work on the ISS as a "single group".

However, this partnership will last no longer than until 2024.

The issue of further use of the ISS in the context of sanctions raises doubts on the Russian side.

“Now Roscosmos has permission from the government to operate the ISS only until 2024.

And the question of extending the agreement in the current conditions makes us skeptical, ”TASS quotes a message from the company’s press service.

As Ivan Moiseev noted, it is still unclear what kind of technologies the US is going to restrict access to for Russia.

“There is no specifics in Joe Biden’s statement - these are just general words that do not say anything to specialists,” the expert believes.

  • European Space Agency building

  • AFP

  • © LOIC VENANCE

However, there is complete clarity in the situation around the ISS.

The fact that Washington did not include this cooperation in the sanctions was expected.

“It is impossible to break such cooperation quickly.

Both countries are now preparing for the completion of the plant in the future.

The Americans plan to use the ISS longer than Russia until 2030.

They expect to later transfer this area to private companies, as happened with space launches,” Ivan Moiseev explained.

However, there are now calls in the American expert community to speed up the "divorce" with Russia on the issue of the ISS, the expert added.

“Now the Russian segment provides the movement of the station, raises and lowers it, so in any case, the Americans will need to find some kind of alternative if such decisions are made.

All this is possible, but it takes time, ”the expert noted.

Andrey Ionin agrees with the opinion that the withdrawal of the ISS from the sanctions campaign is connected only with the fact that the United States now has no other choice.

According to the expert, the era of global cooperation in space is coming to an end.

“Any space projects have a long implementation period.

Therefore, it is worth cooperating in this area only with those countries that, for objective reasons, are strategic partners for Russia.

This is, first of all, China, which is already practically keeping up with us in the space sector, India, as well as a number of other states.

As for the West, it has long since become clear that it is only a momentary partner for us.

Now our paths have diverged, ”the expert summed up.