“It is easy to put an end to twenty years of collaboration, but to rebuild something afterwards would become very complicated”. This warning from several researchers speaks volumes about the uncertainty surrounding the two main international scientific projects. For several decades, the idea of reproducing on Earth the chain reaction observed on the surface of stars – the ITER project – has been the subject of an unfailing effort, simultaneously involving Europe, the United States and Russia. . This planetary collaboration is also the engine of the International Space Station (ISS), considered the longest scientific project in history (twenty-two years of occupation in orbit, more than 100 billion dollars invested and nearly 3000 experiments conducted…). However, with the Ukrainian drama, some are wondering: what if these two initiatives end up derailing?
“We are in the extraordinary, confides Bernard Bigot, the director general of the ITER research program. Everything can change in the blink of an eye and we must at all costs avoid hasty decisions”. Since the start of the war, several research institutes have distanced themselves from Russia. Countries like Germany have even decided to stop all scientific collaboration, current or future. “Never has the West been so virulent with the country of Vladimir Putin”, notes with bewilderment the historian of science Michel Blay. Today, Russian musicians are no longer allowed to play and an Italian university has canceled a course on Dostoyevsky… Totally insane reactions. With such logic, you might as well not use Mendeleev’s element classification table since it was developed by a researcher born in Siberia!”
On the Iter site, in Cadarache (Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance), a few workers recently threw Russian flags into the trash cans. Atmosphere. Since this unfortunate episode, eyes have anxiously scrutinized the order books. Because in April/May 2022, Russia must deliver a coil used to confine the very high temperature plasma of the future reactor. What will happen if she does not honor her commitment? “On a technical level, the project can continue without it,” says Jean Jacquinot, former director of the Joint European Torus (JET) experimental reactor and scientific adviser to ITER. However, if the Russians do not provide their share, another partner country will have to do so and produce the famous reels, which would lead to further delays and additional costs. “Everyone would lose”, concludes the physicist, who specifies: “Scientific collaboration with the Russians has always been very fruitful. It is also a channel for transmitting Western democratic ideas to the East. In my opinion, this is much more important than a construction delay of one or two years.”
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For its part, if Russia decided to slam the door, it would abandon a project in which it plays a historic role since it was its researchers who first imagined the principle of fusion in a tokamak, this donut-shaped chamber which constitutes the heart of ITER. Bernard Bigot wants to believe that this will not happen. “As I speak to you, there is no desire for secession on the part of the Russians or any of the 6 other partners. All of them have moreover signed a treaty committing them to provide in kind and in the resources necessary for the construction of ITER. This document stipulates that no event of a political nature must have an impact on the project. I am in contact almost daily with my Russian colleagues and their government. They ensure that the work progresses normally on the famous reel”.
A parts embargo after the invasion of Crimea
If Bernard Bigot remains confident, it is also because the ITER project has seen others. “In 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea, only the Americans could produce an essential electronic system. But as an embargo between the countries had been decreed, we had to, with the agreement of the United States, transform the order of Russia in a request from the ITER organization, so the American suppliers were able to deliver the parts to us, and we then sent them to the Russians, with the formal commitment on their part that these parts would serve the intended purpose. “.
The moral of this story ? The survivability of major projects should not be underestimated. This maxim also applies to the ISS. On twitter, Dmitry Rogozin, the director general of Roscosmos, adds fuel to the fire by openly mentioning the possibility of a fall of the orbital laboratory. Others anticipate a separation of Russian and American modules. Jean-François Clervoy, engineer and former astronaut of the ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA, takes these hypotheses with a lot of perspective: “Technically, an undocking is possible. But both parties would suffer. would no longer have at their disposal the gyroscopes that are on the American Destiny module that the astronauts use to control the orientation of the station, so they would depend on propulsion to do this task, which would pose a certain number of difficulties, starting with fuel consumption.Similarly, they would lack the electrical power to operate their own segment at maximum capacity.The Americans, on the other hand, would have to find a system to replace the propulsion provided by the other party. probably doable temporarily with their supply ships. But it’s not ideal.”
So far, the scientific community refuses to believe in the outright downfall of the station. For such a scenario to happen, the cosmonauts would have to be ordered to retire to the Soyuz, leaving the rest of the crew on board. The thrusters of the Progress – the supply ship – would then force the station down, forcing the Americans to evacuate. “I do not at all see the Russians daring to endanger the life of an astronaut, whatever his nationality, and run the risk of having the space station reenter the atmosphere randomly on trajectories flying over many cities”, comments Jean-François Clervoy.
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“If the war does not last too long, major projects like ITER or the ISS should survive this crisis, in particular because of the large investments made by the States concerned”, urges Michel Blay. For the moment, the personnel on board the ISS continue to do their work normally. The very recent elevation raise – it takes one a month – was no problem. And it is still planned that the American Mark Vande Hei will return to Earth on March 30 next aboard the Russian vessel. Only small downside: the cosmonauts of the ISS were instructed to stop their cooperation during the experiments carried out by Germany. “The code of good conduct signed by all astronauts leaving for the ISS prevails despite everything, observes Jean-François Clervoy who recalls that in twenty years, no real dispute has taken place up there”. Perhaps this text should be read to heads of state around the world.
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