The Russian telescope Spektr-RG has been in space for five years and has made a number of important discoveries

The Russian space observatory Spektr-RG continues its fascinating journey through the boundless expanses of space, marking five years since the start of its mission. During this time, the device has provided scientists with a huge amount of data, allowing them to explore distant corners of space and discover new phenomena.

It is worth noting that since the first telescopes appeared in the 17th century, humanity has significantly expanded its knowledge of the Universe. However, for a long time, observations were conducted only in the visible range, limited by the capabilities of human vision.



With the development of science, it became clear that space is much richer and more diverse than what we can see with our eyes. Thus, a new direction appeared – radio astronomy, thanks to which scientists began to map the Universe, recording various types of radiation.

In the late 80s, the USSR began developing a project for a radio telescope that could be located directly in space, away from terrestrial radio interference. However, for obvious reasons, its implementation was somewhat delayed, continuing only in the mid-XNUMXs.

Meanwhile, in 2011, the Zenit launch vehicle launched the Spektr-R spacecraft, equipped with the world's largest parabolic antenna, into orbit. This telescope collected unique data and operated in orbit until 2019, exceeding its expected service life.

The next stage of the program was the launch of the Spektr-RG observatory in 2019. This device was developed in cooperation with Germany and is equipped with two telescopes: the Russian ART-XC and the German eROSITA. The main objective of the mission is to create a detailed map of the starry sky in the X-ray range. By 2022, Spektr-RG had already conducted four full surveys of the entire sky and made a number of significant discoveries, such as the destruction of a star by a black hole and the discovery of a giant X-ray source.

However, due to political Following the controversy, Germany switched off its telescope in 2022. Russian scientists quickly revised the program and continued the research independently. Over the past two years, the observatory has made many new discoveries, including a symbiotic X-ray binary star and the brightest gamma-ray burst in history.

The warranty period for Spektr-RG expires in a year and a half, but experts hope that the device will serve for another 5-10 years. In the future, it is planned to launch two new telescopes, Spektr-UV and Spektr-M, which will be created without foreign participation and launched by 2030.

In turn, these developments will play an important role in the creation of the Astro-GLONASS space navigation system, which will enable travel to the Moon and deep space.