Russia's Roscosmos Chief Instructs to Restart Germany's Telescope at Spektr-RG Observatory

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th June, 2022) Russian space agency Roscosmos has decided to resume the operation of Germany's telescope eROSITA at the joint Russian-German astrophysics observatory Spektr-RG, which was turned off by the German colleagues in late February amid the Ukrainian crisis, Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin said on Saturday.

"I have instructed to launch the works on resuming operation of the German telescope at the Spektr-RG space observatory along with the Russian telescope," Rogozin told the Rossiya 24 broadcaster.

He also said that it is necessary for a scientific research and that those, who took the decision to disconnect the German telescope for political reasons, did not have a "moral right" to do it.

The eROSITA (ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array) telescope, intended to conduct full-sky surveys and integrated into the Spektr-RG space observatory together with Russian telescope ART-XC, was built by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany.

The telescope started to collect data in October 2019, and one of the most precise maps, which was expected to provide eight surveys, was set to be completed and published by 2025.