This Is The Reason Why Russia Withdrew All Personnel And Engineers From European Spaceports!

JAKARTA - In the midst of the escalating conflict with Ukraine, Russia has decided to withdraw from the main European spaceport and suspend their cooperation.

The head of Russia's main space company, Dmitry Rogozin, announced the decision on Twitter, and said his country was responding to sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union.

Meanwhile, both Europe, the United States (US), and other countries around the world also issued significant sanctions against Russia this week following the country's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

About two dozen Russian technicians and engineers have worked at the Russian facility in French Guiana. This spaceport, called the Guiana Space Center, is where Europe launches its fleet of orbital rockets, including European versions of Russian Soyuz vehicles for medium-lift missions.

Prior to the conflict, Russia had been working on preparing a Soyuz rocket that would launch two Galileo satellites for the European Union on April 6, but given this, it looks like the launch will be canceled.

Europe has spent $10 billion developing the independent Galileo navigation system, which now has more than two dozen satellites in orbit. Likewise, Soyuz has also launched elements of the Earth observation satellite network, Copernicus Europe.

Responding to Russia's actions, European Commissioner for Space Thierry Breton said there would be no consequences for the constellations of Galileo or Copernicus in terms of continuity or quality of service. Also, he said, the suspension of Russian cooperation would have no impact on their development.

"We will take all relevant decisions in response to this decision in due course and continue to develop the second generation of the EU's two sovereign space infrastructure," Breton said as quoted by Ars Technica, Tuesday, March 1.

"We stand ready to act decisively, together with the Member States, to protect this critical infrastructure in the event of aggression, and continue to develop Ariane 6 and Vega C to ensure Europe's strategic autonomy in the launcher area."

Russia's decision does put the EU in something binding. Europe's small Vega rocket was not powerful enough to lift the satellites of Galileo and Copernicus into orbit.

The continent's rocket, the Ariane 5, is being retired in favor of the more efficient and cost-effective Ariane 6 rocket. However, all of the remaining Ariane 5 launches are fought, and the Ariane 6 rocket may not be operational until at least 2023.

So it's unclear what steps Europe might take in the meantime, if it needs to quickly launch the Galileo or Copernicus satellites.

The only hope in a Western company with spare capacity for such a mission might be US-based SpaceX, but Europe seems unlikely to use a competitor for its institutional launch industry.