1/ Uranus has been severely pounded in Ukraine over the past two years. The Russian space agency's head says 105 of its employees have died and 342 have been wounded fighting in Ukraine, likely as members of the Roscosmos volunteer battalion. ⬇️ 
2/ In an event marking Cosmonautics Day (12 April), Roscosmos head Dmitry Bakanov told attendees: "While carrying out combat missions, 342 of our comrades were wounded, and 105 colleagues passed away forever or went missing."
3/ Roscosmos established the Uranus battalion, which came out of Miass, in 2023 as a vehicle for the space agency's employees to participate in the war in Ukraine. The battalion calls its fighters "Imperial Stormtroopers".
https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1662158333564813326
4/ Bakanov's statement indicates that 1,000 Roscosmos workers have entered Uranus, with 400 earning awards for doing so. Two are said to have received Hero of Russia medals, Russia's highest award for heroism.
5/ Although Uranus apparently experienced a blockage in 2024, a pause in recruitment seems to have been resolved subsequently. It is still recruiting, as of April 2025, and currently seeks men aged 21 to 59 years old.
https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1762569201225469989
6/ Roscosmos and the Russian Ministry of Defence pay a substantial salary to those willing to go into Uranus, giving it an attractive bottom line. According to a 15 April 2025 post on Telegram, the battalion offers the following as a combined salary and bonuses:
7/🔺 "From 350,000 rubles [$4,259] monthly (250 from the RF Ministry of Defence + 100 from the Battalion)!
🔺 2,400,000 [$29,206] one-time (400 by decree of the President + 1,900 from the city of Moscow + 100 from the Battalion)!"
🔺 2,400,000 [$29,206] one-time (400 by decree of the President + 1,900 from the city of Moscow + 100 from the Battalion)!"
8/ It also offers compensation for injuries plus life and health insurance worth up to 4,000,000 rubles ($48,677). As this is a considerably better deal than Russia's rocket scientists and engineers normally get, many likely saw Uranus as a juicy package.
9/ Uranus has recently been offering a new opening for men to enter. The battalion operates as a motorised rifle unit, and since April 2025 it has been looking for more volunteers to join a newly-established UAV unit.
10/ While it may seem counterproductive for Russia to send its rocket scientists and engineers to die in Ukraine, they are likely to have been underemployed anyway. Russia's rocket industry has been in severe decline, especially since the start of the full-scale invasion.
11/ The number of Russian rocket launches has fallen from a post-Soviet high of 35 in 2013 to just 17 in 2024. By contrast, in that year the U.S. launched 158 rockets (138 by SpaceX alone) and China launched 68.
12/ In what appears to have been a desperate bid for relevance, Roscosmos reportedly proposed in 2023 to convert space rockets into orbital bombers, dropping aerial bombs on Ukraine from space. Unsurprisingly, this seems to have been impractical. /end
https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1681365386992779264
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
