Space exploration is a necessity for the world to understand the fundamentals of the place where we live, breathe and work i.e. earth. It helps us to understand our solar system and develop technology to find life in space and bring an alternative solution to the rising population and depleting resources on earth. It is currently providing major access to information regarding navigation and prediction, through satellites to create an overarching impact in the areas like defense, security, education, etc including the successful launch of many rovers and manned missions.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Russian Federal Space Agency (RFSA) generally known as Roscosmos and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), are some of the world’s known space exploration companies which run many joint programs at the global level in this field. This exploration facilitates life on earth including deep exploration to find life beyond earth like Moon, Mars, etc and fosters peaceful coordination among different nations.
One such world’s largest space project is the International Space Station (ISS) which is run in collaboration by the space agencies of the US, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada to conduct scientific research related to microgravity and space environment including others like astronomy, physics, etc since 1998. It was a major collaboration in the area of peaceful space exploration and providing enriching insights since then.
But, in the wake of Russia Ukraine War and with the strict sanctions on Russia by the west, Roscosmos has recently announced that it will end its participation in ISS from 2024. It will somehow halt the life of this mega project prematurely as Russia is one of the major participants in terms of providing space technologies to the program.
On the larger landscape, this will not only end a long and productive space exploration association for mankind but it can also rage a space race that can affect the ongoing peaceful space exploration and help everyone on the earth. It will be the first time when the geopolitics on the planet earth will bring an impact on global space exploration projects at such a level. Thus it needs cautious regulations and treaties at the global level to still work collectively and keep on benefitting human life on earth in all possible aspects now and forever.