The Russian Academy of Sciences appreciated the decision of ESA to terminate participation in the lunar programs of Roscosmos
The European Space Agency removes its instruments from Russian lunar missions. A European camera and a drill will not go to the moon. In the Russian Academy of Sciences "Newspaper.Ru" told what Dmitry Rogozin's comment "a woman with a cart is easier for a mare" means.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is ending cooperation with Russia on the lunar program. This decision was made by the Ruling Council, it was published on the agency's website.
The rupture of the partnership was caused by the Russian special operation in Ukraine, in connection with which many Western countries imposed sanctions against Russia. Earlier, cooperation was conducted between ESA and Roscosmos on the Luna-25, -26 and -27 apparatuses, some of them were supposed to have European instruments. In particular, we are talking about the PILOT-D camera on Luna-25, starting in August 2022, and the PROSPECT cryogenic drilling rig on Luna-27.
So, we have already managed to agree on sending PROSPECT on board one of the vehicles of the SLPS program, created by NASA to involve a large number of small private contractors in the space industry. The PROSPECT drill must extract samples of lunar rock without heating them, and then move them to an automatic chemical mini-laboratory. With its help, scientists plan to establish the chemical composition of the soil and find out whether it is easy to extract water, oxygen and other useful substances from it.
PILOT-D is an experimental European navigation camera designed to test the technology of safe automatic landing on the moon. ESA is currently looking for a private contractor for this device as well.
The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, commented on this ESA decision in the Telegram channel: "So we will remove their devices from our devices. A European woman with a cart, it's easier for a Russian mare."
The Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences also spoke about the breakup of the partnership. The PILOT-D camera was supposed to shoot the moment of landing of the device in the interests of ESA and is absolutely not needed by Russia.
"The Europeans wanted to use this data in their future projects. We did them a favor by installing this camera. We had to put this camera with a preponderance, now, instead of shooting something Russian, we will shoot European with great pleasure," he explained to the newspaper.Ru" Head of the Department of Nuclear Planetology of the ICI RAS Igor Mitrofanov.
There were no European instruments planned for Luna-26 at all, and ESA only promised to help with the use of ground stations to receive a signal from the Moon.
The installation of PROSPECT, according to Mitrofanov, was also burdensome for the Russian side.
- he said.
The European drilling rig weighs 41 kg, and the Russian one - within 30 kg. According to the scientist, the design of the Russian drilling rig in the ICI RAS began in advance, for safety.
"We know this story with the Mistrals and so on, it is clear that the Russian Federation should have its own drill. Let me remind you that the Europeans themselves asked us with their devices, we did not run and did not invite them. They had their own lunar program, they wanted to land at the pole on their lander. But they were not given money, they came to us. It was still under Popovkin (the head of Roscosmos from 2011 to 2013), and they were told - let's help you," Mitrofanov explained.
Among the space projects, the lunar program was not the first victim of the conflict between Russia and the West. In March, the Ruling Council made a similar decision regarding the ExoMars-2022 project, and now the Europeans are looking for alternative ways to deliver the Rosalind Franklin rover to Mars.
Pavel Kotlyar
