RUSSIA has caused concern as it tries to hijack a German satellite orbiting the Earth over one million miles away and take it out of "safe mode".
The news comes as Russia’s space agency Roscosmos is finding its daily operations difficult to maintain since the start of the invasion of Ukraine over 100 days ago. Conflict with Ukraine has alienated Russian institutions around the world, with the space agency no exception to the rule as the international space community loosens ties with Moscow.
The satellite in question was launched by Russian spacecraft three years ago.
The launch housed its primary instrument called eROSITA, an X-ray observatory built by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Germany, as well as the ART-XC instrument, a Russian high-energy X-ray telescope.
Yet like many other bodies, Germany cut off its cooperation with Roscosmos over the war with Ukraine, pushing the eROSITA into “safe mode” in late February.
Furious Russian space officials now want to take back control of the equipment in a sign Moscow will not tolerate political pressure on its space programme.
Roscosmos
Roscosmos want to hijack a German satellite in space (Image: Getty)
Putin and Scholz
Tension is high between Germany and Russia since the invasion of Ukraine (Image: Getty)
Speaking of the plan, top Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said: “I gave instructions to start work on restoring the operation of the German telescope in the Spektr-RG system so it works together with the Russian telescope.
“Despite Germany's demand to shut down one of the two telescopes at Spektr-RG, Russian specialists insist on continuing its work.
“Roscosmos will make relevant decisions in the near future.”
However, German officials are concerned any remote intervention into the satellite without cooperation from Berlin could result in damage to the hardware.
Proton
The satellite was launched in a Russia Proton rocket (Image: Getty)
Dmitry Rogozin
Roscosmos chief Dmity Rogozin blamed sanctions for a collapse in relations (Image: Getty)
The anger continued to be apparent as Mr Rogozin, speaking to DW said: “They, the people that made the decision to shut down the telescope, don't have a moral right to halt this research for humankind just because