Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Artist’s impression of the ExoMars 2020 rover and Russia’s stationary surface platform in background.
Credit:
ESA/ATG medialab

The unprovoked Russian military aggression against Ukraine has lit a fuse that has impacted worldwide space cooperation not only here on Earth but set collaborative projects on an unsteady interplanetary trajectory.

Like Russian nesting dolls of diminishing sizes, just how major or minor Russia’s actions will impact the space community of nations in years to come is difficult to foretell. To be sure, it is celestial chess playing. Whether or not Russia rules as a Grandmaster or a secluded space power on the world stage remains to be seen.

Russia’s Luna-25 Moon lander.
Credit: RSC Energia/Roscosmos

Go to my new Scientific American story — “Russia’s War in Ukraine Threatens Joint Missions to Mars, Venus and the Moon – Interplanetary voyages are among several space science collaborations delayed or doomed by the ongoing conflict” – at:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/russias-war-in-ukraine-threatens-joint-missions-to-mars-venus-and-the-moon/