A good show, why does the space cooperation between Russia, the United States and Europe keep breaking up and getting together?

Some time ago, the United States and Europe cancelled many space projects in cooperation with Russia, showing a tense situation. However, the situation has taken a turn for the better recently. It is reported that the European Space Agency has restarted the dialogue with Russia on the Mars exploration mission, and the United States not only paid the "ticket money" for its astronauts in March in rubles as required by the Russian side, but also continued to reserve seats for its astronauts on future flights of the Soyuz spacecraft through "middlemen". The "drama" of separation and combination in the field of space cooperation between Russia, the United States and Europe is being staged, and the considerations behind each of them are worth exploring.

International Space Station: Divorce is impossible

After the United States launched space sanctions against Russia, Russia reacted fiercely, threatening to withdraw from the International Space Station project, claiming that without the support of Russian spacecraft, the International Space Station "is likely to deorbit" and would no longer sell Russian-made rocket engines to American companies. Russian media also released a simulation video of the Russian module closing its airlock and separating from other modules of the International Space Station.

International Space Station

From the Mir to the International Space Station, Russia and the United States have successfully cooperated in the field of manned spaceflight for more than 30 years. If we trace back to the Soyuz-Apollo joint mission, the history of cooperation can be traced back nearly 20 years. During such a long period of cooperation, the two sides have already formed a tacit understanding that "no matter how turbulent the earth is, the people in the sky must remain calm and unperturbed."

This is not necessarily because the astronauts have strong psychological qualities. The main reason is that no matter how big the orbital space station is, it is essentially an "isolated island" floating 400 kilometers away. No matter how different the astronauts' political positions and religious beliefs are, they must live together in a closed space and there is no possibility of "starting a new life." People on the ground sometimes compare the International Space Station to a "steel villa in the sky," but for the astronauts, it is their "whole world" and they must unite as one family.

For Russia, the separation of the International Space Station has never been a technical issue. The Zarya functional module and the Zvezda core module are both controlled by Russia, and together with the latest Science experimental module, they have complete functions such as living module, service module, experimental module and cargo module. It can be said that the Russian-made module of the International Space Station has all the technical capabilities to operate independently.

However, having technical capabilities is one thing, and having economic support is another. Currently, the annual operating cost of the International Space Station is about 3 billion US dollars, and the United States has always paid the bulk of the cost. Russia has been sanctioned in many ways, and in the long run, the economic situation is not optimistic. It is probably unable to come up with so much money to independently operate the space station, otherwise it would not have allowed the "Mir" with an annual operating cost of "only" 300 million US dollars to end its mission so early. It can be said that although the Russian side threatened to "separate the International Space Station", it is more like a determination or a price increase, which will not come true unless it is absolutely necessary.

For the United States, the separation of the International Space Station may seem like a technical problem, but it is not. Currently, the work of transporting personnel and cargo to the International Space Station is no longer monopolized by Russian spacecraft. Commercial aerospace forces such as SpaceX have also stated that the Dragon spacecraft also has the ability to adjust the attitude and increase the orbital altitude of the International Space Station. The special truss structure can also fully guarantee that the International Space Station will not be torn apart after the "separation".

However, the United States cannot be too optimistic, because once a large orbital spacecraft like the International Space Station is "separated", it means that its function, appearance, center of gravity, etc. will be completely changed. It may take months or even years to restore it to its original level. The problem is that the International Space Station is already in the stage of over-service life. Such a "big fuss" may force it to retire earlier, and the commercial space station cannot "take over" for a while. The world's number one space power obviously cannot accept the dilemma of not having its own astronauts in space for a long time.

After weighing the pros and cons, NASA immediately stepped in to calm people's hearts after the Russian threat, and used practical actions to clarify that sanctions would not affect the normal operation of the International Space Station. Russian space officials also said at the right time: "We are a family, and divorce is impossible."

Mars exploration: Russia and Europe "band together for warmth"

The predecessor of the ExoMars Mars exploration program was the Aurora Project proposed by the European Space Agency nearly 20 years ago. After repeated delays and changes, it became a "pigeon king" deep space exploration mission comparable to the James Webb Space Telescope. The reason why it has been delayed for so long is that the technical difficulty is one aspect, and the lack of money is the main reason. The European Space Agency first gave up promoting this project alone and sought cooperation with the United States. After NASA withdrew, the project changed, and the European Space Agency approached Russia again. At that time, Russia had just failed in the Mars exploration mission and was in a period of vacillation, so Russia and Europe decided to "huddle together for warmth", which led to the ExoMars Mars exploration plan.

ExoMars rover mission

Apart from the lack of money, Russia had all the resources ESA needed for Mars exploration at the time: Russia's Proton-M launch vehicle has a stronger carrying capacity than Ariane 5; Russia started the earliest and suffered the most failures in the field of Mars exploration, and not only has deep technical accumulation, but also has a stronger desire to "take the first step to success."

Therefore, according to the cooperation model of ESA providing money and Russia providing technology, the ExoMars-2016 Mars exploration mission soon entered the practical stage after three years of cooperation between the two sides. Unfortunately, this time the Mars lander was unlucky and crashed on the surface of Mars. The problem should be with the parachute.

After that, the two sides launched the ExoMars-2018 Mars exploration mission. Due to the immaturity of parachute technology, insufficient funds and interference from the epidemic, this mission has been repeatedly postponed from 2020 to 2022, and it is currently impossible to launch it before 2024.

In addition, this exploration mission is more complicated. Russia is responsible for the launch vehicle and the Cossack Dance lander, and ESA is responsible for the Rosaline Franklin Mars rover. The lander and the Mars rover are each equipped with some payloads responsible for each other, including cameras, drilling machines, ground-penetrating radars, organic molecule analyzers and many complex optical analysis equipment. Among them, the radioactive material heater developed by Russia is crucial for the Mars rover, which can ensure that the "delicate" electronic components of the Mars rover will not be frozen in the cold environment of Mars.

In this kind of technical solution of mutual integration, once ESA withdraws completely, the ExoMars Mars exploration plan will fail completely, and the previous investment will be "wasted". However, NASA is not very enthusiastic about cooperating with ESA to explore Mars again, and ESA's Mars rover may not have the opportunity to be launched until 2028. Therefore, ESA only said that the cooperation with Russia was "suspended" at that time, which still triggered a lot of opposition within ESA. After all, not all countries are willing to sacrifice the space industry for international geopolitics. With the Russian side's tough statement of "independent exploration of Mars in 2028", ESA hopes to resume cooperation, and the Russian side immediately welcomed it.

As many astronauts who have returned from space have said: When you are in space, you will be amazed by the magnificence of the earth. From space, there are no national boundaries on the earth. Although space travel seems to be the business of only a few people, it is actually a common cause for all mankind. Cooperation and development are eternal themes. I believe that the "farce" between Russia, the United States and Europe in the field of space travel will eventually subside, and the trend of human beings flying out of the earth is unstoppable.