The functioning of the ISS after sanctions

Will the U.S.’s stiff curbs on Russia affect their collaboration on the International Space Station?

The story so far: After Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia including a ban on transfer of technology and on Russian banks. Following this, on March 3, the Russian space agency Roscosmos tweeted the following, “The State Corporation will not co-operate with Germany on joint experiments in the Russian segment of the International Space Station. Roscosmos will conduct them independently. The Russian space programme against the backdrop of sanctions will be adjusted, the priority will be creation of satellites in the interests of defence. Roscosmos will not service the remaining 24 R-180 engines in the United States, and stop supplying the R-181. “

According to a Reuters report, this was followed by a statement from the head of the Russian Space Agency — Roscosmos — Dmitry Rogozin on Telegram, where he demanded the lift of the sanctions, some of which predate Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the sanctions could disrupt the functioning of the Russian spacecraft that serviced the International Space Station. This could lead to the Russian segment of the ISS, which helps in correcting the orbit of the ISS being affected. He said that this meant the ISS could fall into the sea or on the land. He further said that the Russian segment ensures that the space station’s orbit is corrected to keep it away from space debris, roughly 11 times a year. He pointed out, publishing a map, that the ISS would likely crash down on some country, but most probably not Russia itself.

The ISS is built with the co-operation of scientists from five international space agencies — NASA of the U.S., Roscosmos of Russia, JAXA of Japan, Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency. Each agency has a role to play and a share in the upkeep of the ISS. Both in terms of expense and effort, it is not a feat that a single country can support. Russia’s part in the collaboration is the module responsible for making course corrections to the orbit of the ISS. They also ferry astronauts to the ISS from the Earth and back. Until SpaceX’s dragon spacecraft came into the picture the Russian spacecrafts were the only way of reaching the ISS and returning.

Due to its enormous weight and the ensuing drag, the ISS tends to sink from its orbit at a height of about 250 miles above the Earth. It has to be pushed up to its original line of motion every now and then. This is rather routine, even for smaller satellites, says Dr. Mylswamy Annadurai, former director of ISRO and presently Vice President of Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology.

Approximately once a month this effort has to be made. It is not necessarily a regular operation, and may be missed once and compensated for later.

The other reason for altering the path of the ISS is to avoid its collision with space debris, which can damage the station.

These manoeuvres need to be done as and when the debris is encountered.