posted 02-24-2022 12:57 PM               

We estimate that we'll cut off more than half of Russia's high tech imports and will strike a blow to their ability to continue to modernize their military. It'll degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program.

posted 02-24-2022 03:05 PM               

Yes, Dmitry Rogozin, director general of Roscosmos, has stayed true to his form, taking to Twitter to criticize the sanctions. Notably, though, he did not call for Russia to leave the space station program, instead leaving that decision with the U.S.:

Do you want to destroy our cooperation on the ISS?

This is how you already do it by limiting exchanges between our cosmonaut and astronaut training centers. Or do you want to manage the ISS yourself? Maybe President Biden is off topic, so explain to him that the correction of the station's orbit, its avoidance of dangerous rendezvous with space garbage, with which your talented businessmen have polluted the near-Earth orbit, is produced exclusively by the engines of the Russian Progress MS cargo ships.

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 also the option of dropping a 500-ton structure to India and China. Do you want to threaten them with such a prospect? The ISS does not fly over Russia, so all the risks are yours. Are you ready for them?

posted 02-24-2022 03:57 PM               

...its avoidance of dangerous rendezvous with space garbage

posted 02-24-2022 07:48 PM               

NASA continues working with all our international partners, including the State Space Corporation Roscosmos, for the ongoing safe operations of the International Space Station. The new export control measures will continue to allow U.S.-Russia civil space cooperation.

No changes are planned to the agency's support for ongoing in orbit and ground station operations.

posted 02-24-2022 09:39 PM               

The AN-225, which today flies as a commercial cargo plane, was originally built to transport the Energia boosters and Buran orbiters in support of the Soviet space program. The Mriya remains the world's largest and heaviest operational aircraft.

Later in the day, Dmitry Antonov, chief pilot of Antonov Airlines, the owner of the AN-225, posted on Facebook that the Mriya was intact.

Hostomel airport now under Russian airborn forces. Large planes big possibility will land tonight.

From the positive, Mriya is whole. We hold on and glory to Ukraine.

posted 02-25-2022 03:03 AM               

Given that Russia plans to pull out, NASA and the other partners needed to find a way of performing a controlled deorbiting of the ISS without the use of a Russian spacecraft meaning they either need to volunteer an existing vehicle to perform the duty or design and build something specifically for the task.

posted 02-25-2022 08:34 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by oly:
Russia has stated previously that they will end participation in ISS in 2025...

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posted 02-25-2022 09:25 AM               

Crisis in Ukraine

As we go through these dark hours following the start of the full-scale military confrontation unfolding in Ukraine, ESA has been closely monitoring the situation while maintaining regular contact with its Member States, industry and international partners in order to assess the possible consequences for ESA's ongoing activities and above all for the workforce involved in its critical operations.

One of the strengths that space cooperation has demonstrated in the past is the resilience of the partners to overcome geopolitical crises and maintain, as is the case on board the International Space Station, a place of joint research for peaceful purposes for the benefit of all. ESA is committed to continuing the work of all its programme activities, including the ongoing ExoMars launch campaign, to ensure their successful implementation, wherever possible.

Notwithstanding the current conflict, civil space cooperation remains a bridge. ESA continues to work on all of its programmes, including on ISS and ExoMars launch campaign, in order to honour commitments with Member States and partners. We continue to monitor the evolving situation.

I am sad and worried as the aggression continues to worsen in Ukraine. With ESA Member States, we will take any decisions needed. But for now, support for our missions and colleagues continues until further notice.

posted 02-25-2022 10:01 AM               

From SpaceNews' Jeff Foust (via Twitter):

I would emphasize "confirmation pending" here, which is true for any claims you see coming out of a combat zone.

Also, Northrop said last week they have all the components for two more Antares launches, so in a worst-case scenario they have time to find new launches for Cygnus.

My sources dispute info about destruction of Yuzhmash, as of this hour.

posted 02-25-2022 01:25 PM               

So far, the company has not said anything publicly about the Russian invasion of Ukraine or its plans. OneWeb did not respond to a request for comment from Ars on Friday.

posted 02-26-2022 09:10 AM               

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 personnel, including the consolidated launch crew, from French Guiana.

There are 87 Russian citizens in French Guiana. We are talking about employees of NPO Lavochkin, who prepared the Fregat-MT upper stage, as well as employees of the Progress RCC (manufacturer of the Soyuz rockets) and TsENKI. The issue of the departure of Russian employees is being worked out.

In the context of the introduction of new and the preservation of previously imposed sanctions, I consider the continued participation of the United States in the Russian project for the development and creation of an interplanetary station Venera-D inappropriate.

posted 02-26-2022 09:36 PM               

After the past several days, it has become obvious that the level of outrage from the global community over Putin’s invasion is unprecedented in modern times. Things are likely to get worse as Russia pushes into Kyiv, and civilian casualties mount.

posted 02-26-2022 11:08 PM               

Last I checked, the Chinese are pretty good negotiators. With regards to Russia cooperating with China in space, sure, China will be happy to gain all the technological and operational information they can from Russia, at the lowest possible cost to China. Given that Russia now has literally no other option, one would assume the Chinese will be able to negotiate very hard.

Russians probably will fly to the Moon with the Chinese too, on a Chinese capsule launched on a Chinese rocket. You can bet the Chinese will set the rules and the guidelines for the cooperation too. Russians will be used by the Chinese as long as they are useful for the Chinese and then only kept on to the extent that the Russians are helpful to the program either technically or for geopolitical considerations.

posted 02-27-2022 10:59 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
Further details about the condition of the Mriya have yet to be reported.

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The biggest plane in the world "Mriya" (The Dream) was destroyed by Russian occupants on an airfield near Kyiv. We will rebuild the plane. We will fulfill our dream of a strong, free, and democratic Ukraine.

posted 02-27-2022 04:15 PM               

Soviet-era space shuttle carrier aircraft destroyed in Russian attack on Ukraine

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has destroyed a "large" part of its own space history, with reports now confirming the fate of an enormous aircraft that was originally built to transport Soviet space shuttles.

Once the world's largest flying machine by both wingspan and weight, the Antonov An-225 "Mriya" ("Dream") was parked in an open air hangar undergoing repairs at Hostomel (or Gostomel) airport, located to the northwest of Ukraine's capital city of Kyiv, when Russia launched its attack against the country on Thursday (Feb. 24).

Four days later, the news came that the one-of-a-kind aircraft was no more.

posted 02-28-2022 09:13 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by SkyMan1958:
Do you think OneWeb will continue to launch satellites on Soyuz rockets?

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At the Baikonur, the Soyuz-2.1b space rocket general assembly has been completed for the upcoming commercial launch.

A meeting of the Commission is planned tomorrow to clear the rocket for rollout to the launch pad.

posted 02-28-2022 10:01 AM               

ESA statement regarding cooperation with Russia following a meeting with Member States on 28 February 2022

We deplore the human casualties and tragic consequences of the war in Ukraine. We are giving absolute priority to taking proper decisions, not only for the sake of our workforce involved in the programmes, but in full respect of our European values, which have always fundamentally shaped our approach to international cooperation.

ESA is an intergovernmental organisation governed by its 22 Member States and we have built up a strong network of international cooperation over the past decades, which serves the European and global space community through its very successful programmes.

We are fully implementing sanctions imposed on Russia by our Member States. We are assessing the consequences on each of our ongoing programmes conducted in cooperation with the Russian state space agency Roscosmos and align our decisions to the decisions of our Member States in close coordination with industrial and international partners (in particular with NASA on the International Space Station).

Regarding the Soyuz launch campaign from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, we take note of the Roscosmos decision to withdraw its workforce from Kourou. We will consequently assess for each European institutional payload under our responsibility the appropriate launch service based notably on launch systems currently in operation and the upcoming Vega C and Ariane 6 launchers.

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.

ESA continues to monitor the situation in close contact with its Members States.

posted 02-28-2022 11:22 AM               

We are not getting any indications at a working level that our counterparts are not committed to the ongoing operation of the International Space Station. We, as a team, are operating just like we were operating three weeks ago. Our flight controllers are still talking together, our teams are still talking together, we're still doing training together and we're still working together. Obviously, we understand the global situation where it is, but as a joint team, these teams are operating together.

Currently, there is no plan — it would be very difficult for us to be operating on our own. The ISS is an international partnership that was created as an international partnership with joint dependencies, which is what makes it such an amazing program. It's a place where we live and operate in space in a peaceful manner. That's really a model for us to be operating in the future and I actually feel like this is a good message for us that we are operating peacefully in space now.

posted 02-28-2022 07:34 PM               

Antonov Airfield, Ukraine 13:59 hours local (UTC+2) today. BlackSky rapid revisit and analytics show before and after of destroyed Antonov An-225 Mriya hangar and increased military vehicle presence. Fire at nearby warehouses push plumes of smoke into air as conflict continues.

posted 02-28-2022 09:15 PM               

On the outskirts of Kiev, somewhere between the city's Nyvky and Sviatoshyn metro stations, sits a drab industrial building that you could drive past a thousand times without guessing it contains an extraordinary secret.

Inside can be found the unfinished chapter of one of the greatest feats of Soviet aviation ever conceived. The only clue is the building's size. It's gargantuan.

...the second An-225 is about 70% completed. All the essential components of its superstructure have been manufactured, including the fuselage, wings, nose gear and tail.

posted 03-01-2022 04:12 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Jurg Bolli:
This is sad, what a waste.

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posted 03-01-2022 12:30 PM            

That sounds all very fine and noble, but it completely ignores what one of the ISS partners is doing in Ukraine right now, and if the U.S. and other ISS partners carry on as if nothing is happening, that is tantamount to approving of, or at least tolerating, Russia's actions.

Sport is also supposed to be a model for peaceful international co-operation, but international sporting authorities are now expelling Russia from competitions, a prominent example being Russia's expulsion from the football World Cup.

posted 03-01-2022 02:37 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by ejectr:
I think Dante said...

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