The Russian space agency Roscosmos is temporarily halting Soyuz rocket launches from French Guiana, pending an evolution of the situation between Ukraine, Russia and Europe.
It was supposed to be a prosperous year for the conquest of space, but the geopolitical situation risks tainting Russian and European ambitions somewhat. The Russian space agency Roscosmos has indeed announced that it is temporarily interrupting Soyuz rocket launches in French Guiana due to sanctions imposed by the European Union.
“Roscosmos suspends its cooperation with European partners to organize space launches from the Kourou cosmodrome and withdraws its personnel, including the consolidated launch crew, from French Guiana”, Roscosmos said in a tweet. The agency also specifies that it plans to withdraw all of its personnel from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, which helped launch Soyuz rockets for Roscosmos and other Russian companies.
⚡ “В ответ на санкции Евросоюза в отношении наших предприятий Роскосмос приостанавливает сотрудничество с европейскими партнерами по организации космических запусков с космодрома Куру и отзывает свой персонал, включая сводный стартовый расчёт, из Французской Гвианы” – @Rogozin. pic.twitter.com/KLm2UQsIEz
— РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) February 26, 2022
Thierry Breton, European Commissioner, reacted to this news: “As Commissioner in charge of European space policy, and in particular the European space infrastructures Galileo and Copernicus, I take note of the decision of the Russian space agency Roscosmos to withdraw from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou. […] I confirm that this decision has no consequences on the continuity and quality of the Galileo and Copernicus services. This decision also does not jeopardize the further development of these infrastructures.”
However, Russia is committed to several important missions this year. Arianespace was supposed to put two Galileo satellites into orbit using a Soyuz rocket next April, but the mission will probably be postponed if international tensions do not ease. Russia and Europe are also preparing for a robotic mission to Mars, which should take place later this year. European Space Agency director Josef Aschbacher said that “ESA continues to work on all of its programmers, including the ISS and ExoMars launch campaign”corn “will continue to monitor the development of the situation”.
This could already shake up a 2022 space calendar which remains hypothetically very rich.