The eROSITA telescope was built by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and is intended to be paired with the ART-XC. After the worsening of relations between Russia and Western countries in connection with the Russian operation in Ukraine, German experts put the device to sleep. On June 4, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, made it clear that he intends to open the power of eROSITA, contrary to the decision of the German side.
“I have instructed to begin preparations for the paired restoration of the German eROSITA telescope with the Russian telescope at the Spektr-RG space observatory,” Rogozin said in a broadcast on Russia-24.
“The decision makers [в Берлине] There was no moral right to shut down the German telescope for anti-Russian political reasons. The operation of a space observatory is essential to science. We will correct the mistake of the Germans and open their telescopes at our Spektr-RG observatory,” said Dmitry Rogozin.
Lev Zeleny, scientific director of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which developed the Russian part of the joint observatory, and Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, summarized the position of scientists in a conversation with socialbites.ca.
“Our institute – all scientists – strongly opposes this proposal. This objection is for both political and technical reasons,” he said.
The decision of the head of Roscosmos to open the German telescope caused many questions in the scientific community. Two RAS scientists do not yet understand who will command the telescope and which side – Russian or German – will receive scientific data from it, and most importantly – how the German colleagues of Russian scientists will react to Roscosmos’s decision.
“This is not a Russian device, I do not dare to judge how realistic this whole saga (by inclusion) is, I do not know if our experts have processing codes … it is impossible to publish this data – they will not be accepted, not a single magazine will do the right thing,
Academic Zeleny believes.
According to him, every space agency should manage its own vehicle, even if it works on someone else’s spacecraft. “Technically we can open it, but certain teams sent aboard have to be created in Germany,” said Lev Zeleny.
Academic Rashid Sunyaev, scientific director of the Spektr-RG project, also opposed the uncoordinated opening of the German telescope.
“This is a great device, it is absolutely top notch and has already provided a lot of data. We all dream of returning to active business. But this is a surprisingly complex device and it can simply destroy it if we decide to ignore the agreements with partners and turn it to ourselves,” he said. – This device must be operated in agreement with the German side. It is necessary to explain, negotiate, and actions with them will take place as soon as possible so that both sides understand that in the distant future – in 10-20-30 years – it will be possible to re-deploy foreign extra-class devices to our satellites. at least be coordinated.
At the same time, Sunyaev said that the Spektr-RG device is not idle even without the German half. Russian ART-XC works normally but cannot replace eROSITA. The ART-XC was sensitive to harder, higher-energy beams, while the German instrument was required to observe at the softer, longer wavelength of the spectrum.
Objections to the unilateral inclusion of eROSITA and the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Sergeev. He has already stated his situation in a letter from the Academy of Sciences to the leadership of Roscosmos.
“Our eROSITA administration is not easy and in some ways even risky. Because we did not create and operate this device. This technique is so serious, it’s unique, and our scientists have concerns about whether we can manage it properly in principle? Colleagues are raising concerns about whether we will spoil the device with this, ”Sergeev told Interfax.
However, some experts are in favor of opening the German telescope, despite the opinion of scientists.
“I don’t see any ethical issues in this situation, which developed through no fault of ours. It is impossible to be more immoral than the West has treated us. They themselves destroyed all norms of interaction – ethical, moral, but only human, ”, Andrey Ionin, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Cosmonauts named after KE, told Tsiolkovsky socialbites.ca.
At the same time, he does not see a problem with the fact that Russia’s unilateral decision to open the German telescope provoked the protest of German astronomers and harmed relations with Russian scientists.
“Normal people understand that such decisions are not made by scientists, but by politicians disconnected from reality, especially in the West. What will German, British, French politicians think – I honestly don’t care ”
– said the expert.
At the same time, he proposed not to send data from the telescope to the German side, but to upload it to the public.
“As in all these projects, we will present the scientific data to the public, then anyone can use it. After all, we consider ourselves exempt from all obligations, and the work of their device will be good for real scientists. “I think the relations between scientists will not deteriorate,” he said.
In addition, Rogozin wrote on his Telegram channel that national interests must come first: “Our scientific community and space industry must act harmoniously and exclusively in the interests of national science and be guided solely by our interests. The observatory should serve higher science, and not the whims of petty European politicians whose name no one knows and does not want to know.
Finally, the official Telegram channel of Roscosmos offered a historical analogy of the situation. “In February 1966, the Soviet automatic interplanetary station Luna-9 made the world’s first soft landing on the lunar surface. Bernard Lovell, director of the British radio astronomy observatory Jodrell Bank, intercepted a Soviet radio signal transmitting the first panoramic images of the moon. As a result, foreign media published the pictures earlier than Soviet newspapers. For some reason, it is said that in this case, it was not perceived as “piracy” and scientific data theft in the West.
When the decision was made to open the German telescope and the appropriate command was given to NPO Lavochkin, Roskosmos had difficulty reporting to socialbites.ca.