Russia Threatens to Hijack German Space Telescope
A view of the eROSITA X-ray telescope prior to final packing in its carbon fiber structure. Photo: MPERussia’s space agency has announced its intention to unilaterally seize control of a German telescope mounted to a Russian-built spacecraft. It’s a terrible, irresponsible idea, as even Russian scientists will admit. The German developer of the eROSITA telescope, the Max Planck Institute, put the instrument into sleep mode this past February in protest of Russia’s unwarranted and ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The X-ray…