Russia halts use of European robotic arm ERA on ISS over ExoMars debacle

Roscosmos postpones the use of the European robotic arm ERA on the International Space Station. The Russian space agency is doing this in response to the cancellation of the ExoMars mission, but in practice Russia will be particularly affected by the move.

Roscosmos boss Dmitry Rogozin says in a diatribe against Europe and America on Telegram that he has ordered the three-man Russian crew of the International Space Station to stop using the robotic arm. There were no concrete experiments or missions with the robot arm on the agenda, but there will not be any in the near future. These are missions with the European Robotic Arm, a robot arm built by the Dutch Airbus Space and linked to the Russian Nauka module. The module went into space a year ago, after the launch was delayed for years. The robotic arm is used, among other things, to perform inspections of the Nauka module and to assist astronauts during spacewalks.

If Russia doesn’t use the arm, it’s mainly self-serving. The European Space Agency ESA and specifically Dutch Space were closely involved in its construction, but since its launch and assembly on the ISS, the arm has mainly been used by Russia. European astronauts work in the ISS mainly with the Americans and almost never perform spacewalks in the Russian part. Russia, on the other hand, desperately needs the arm to effectively use the Nauka module. This module, unlike the two other Russian modules, is fully equipped for scientific experiments. With Nauka, the Russian segment of the space station becomes scientifically interesting for that country, but without the ERA, Russia can conduct fewer experiments.

Rogozin prohibits the use of ERA in retaliation for the ExoMars project. That is a European-Russian collaboration to send a rover to Mars. In March of this year, the European ESA decided to permanently postpone the mission. ESA could no longer cooperate with Russia because of the sanctions imposed by Europe after the invasion of Ukraine.

Tensions between Russia and the West have also been rising in space since the war. Although the Russians, Americans and Europeans still work closely together on the International Space Station, cracks are appearing in that cooperation. Russia has threatened to leave the ISS more than once, although in practice this will not happen anytime soon. Russia needs the ISS more than the other way around, Tweakers wrote in a background article earlier this year. Last week, the relationship was further strained when Russian astronauts held up a flag of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. NASA and ESA condemned that action.