Because the ESA will not snore on ExoMars. No news from Draghi on Asi?
Given the war in Ukraine, the European Space Agency has suspended the ExoMars mission to Mars of the European space agencies of Europe (ESA) and Russia (Roscosmos). Everything ok at Asi? Italics by Paolo Chersei
On March 14, Riccardo Iacona presented an episode of Presadiretta on Rai 3 on what is the topic of the day, the war in Ukraine. At the end of the report "China as a way of peace", Iacona with Francesca Nava and Antonella Bottini dwelt on what can be rightly considered one of the main Italian technological jewels: the ExoMars program.
The theme was premonitory of something that arose in the following days. In fact, following the Council meeting held in Paris on 16 and 17 March, ESA suspended its continuation. The Italian Space Agency has just given the news with a press release. It refers to the impacts of what is happening in Europe on the Agency's programs. In summary, ASI expresses itself, the measures adopted are the suspension of the mission, the launch of which was scheduled for the autumn of 2022 but already jeopardized last February 28 and then, as already known, given the withdrawal of the 87 technicians Russian spacecraft present at the European Space Center, the scheduled launches with the Soyuz carrier from the European spaceport of Kourou are skipped but the activities of the International Space Station continue. Specific proposals – concludes ASI – will be submitted for the approval of the Member States to an extraordinary Council of ESA which will be convened in the coming weeks.
It was suspected and no one had had the courage to speak out openly. But it is also true that if Roscosmos does not intend to accept the precious cargo at the Baikonur cosmodrome by April to integrate it with the launcher and the Kazachok landing vehicle produced by Lavočkin, it would have been impossible to respect the dates and have the most ambitious program of the Old Continent killed. – and perhaps even unscrupulous for an alliance that has proved fatal – within the deadline, namely the spring of 2023.
The blow is very hard, it is useless to deny it. Some will also wonder what good is crying over spilled milk while gangs of crazed soldiers are storming Kiev with the methods and cruelty of ancient medieval soldiers but with the deadly weapons of the 21st century.
But it is also legitimate to regret an important investment – amounting to one billion and two hundred million euros – which saw the European agency assign the main leadership of the mission and overall system responsibility for all the elements to Italian industry. Furthermore, Thales Alenia Space Italia is responsible for the design, development and verification of the entire Rosalind Franklin rover system, the development of the Carrier module navigation and guidance system and the implementation of the rover development, including the ALD analysis laboratory and provides basic components of the descent module and the radio altimeter. Leonardo, on the other hand, supplies the photovoltaic systems, the power units and the attitude sensors and the special two-meter drill designed to drill the soil by taking samples to be examined. The development of the mission control center and the infrastructure that should have provided the communications necessary to conduct its operations are also the responsibility of Telespazio.
Mars is a demanding planet. Its rotations around the Sun cause it to approach significantly the Earth only every 24 months, more or less. Waiting two years, in the best hypothesis with a mass of technology now at the frontier firm on the ground would represent a very risky choice, easily reachable from the United States or China, for example.
What to do? It is difficult to know, just as one eagerly awaits the professional fate of the ninety or so technicians and scientists who have devoted all their time to winning this challenging bet.
And what do they say in ASI?
In the interviews carried out by the journalists of the Iacona program, the head of the Agency did not appear. We can hardly believe that Rai has not thought of contacting the president of ASI to have an official definition of what is being assumed but that it has posed the most difficult questions to Piero Benvenuti, certainly a very prestigious astrophysicist and deputy commissioner in one of the moments. in which ASI certainly did not shine for its transparency. We admit all our concern because in such a complex phase for all the dynamics that see the highest national technologies at the forefront, the Draghi government has not yet found a solution to put a president at the helm of ASI who knows how to combine managerial skills, scientific and structural.
What other proofs will we have to wait for? That ASI concludes the realization of its cinematographic work to deal with the serious problems that are gripping it ?
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/asi-presidente/ on Thu, 17 Mar 2022 15:08:14 +0000.