The device was launched three years ago by the Russian Proton launch vehicle. Its feature is that it combines several separate parts. One of them is the main tool called eROSITA. This is an X-ray observatory built by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Germany. The second is the ART-XC instrument, a Russian high-energy X-ray telescope.

The satellite does not work – Rogozin is enraged.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Germany stopped cooperating with Roscosmos. The eROSITA tool booted into Safe Mode on February 26. This seems to have infuriated Dmitry Rogozin, who now owns the Russian space agency. He wants to take control of the device.

I have instructed to start the process of restoring the German telescope in the Spectrum-WG system so that it can work with the Russian telescope. [ … ] Despite Germany’s request to shut down one of the two telescopes in Spectrum-RG, Russian experts insist on continuing their work. Relevant decisions will be made by Roscosmos in the near future,
– German television company Deutsche Welle quotes Rogozin’s words, referring to his words on Russian state television.

German scientists now warn that activating eROSITA without the involvement of a German technology developer could damage it and cause a malfunction. Russian astrophysicist Rashid Sunyaev, mentioned by Deutsche Welle, is also convinced of this.

However, Rogozin doesn’t seem to care. “They – those who have decided to shut down the telescope – have no moral right to stop this work in the name of humanity simply because their fascist views are close to our enemies.”

Briefly about eROSITA:

• The eROSITA telescope was launched by Roscosmos on 13 July 2019 from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
• It began collecting data in October 2019.
• The Spectrum-WG mission, where it is deployed with a Russian telescope, aims to scan distant galaxies and detect black holes, among other things.
• At the time of closing, eROSITA had completed four of the eight planned sky surveys. Data from the first four are still being evaluated by scientists.