The European Space Agency announced that it would suspend cooperation with Russia in the space field, and the Mars rover ExoMars mission in cooperation with the Russian space agency will not be launched this year.
On the same day, representatives of the 22 member states of the European Space Agency announced the above decision after a two-day meeting. All of these member states have imposed economic sanctions on Russia in response to Russia’s conflict with Ukraine. Germany, the largest contributor to the European Space Agency’s budget, suspended all scientific cooperation with Russia in late February.
Thursday’s decision by the European Space Agency is a major blow for the ExoMars rover mission, which has been delayed since 2018 due to parachute problems. According to the plan, ExoMars will be launched in September this year with the Russian launch vehicle Proton. Since the mission will not be launched by a Russian rocket, ESA officials said they are evaluating potential progress on the mission.
ESA chief Joseph Aschbacher tweeted: “Over the past two days, our member states have discussed the impact of the Ukraine conflict on ESA’s space program. Together we have made a difficult but necessary decision to suspend cooperation with Roscosmos, including the planned September launch of ExoMars, and study future directions.”
David Parker, ESA’s head of human and robotic exploration, said: “This is a huge disappointment for those involved in the project, who have devoted years to the mission. For ESA, it is also A painful decision.”
ExoMars is named after the British chemist Rosalind Franklin who helped decipher the structure of DNA. ExoMars aims to search for signs of life in the Martian atmosphere and beneath the surface, but the mission has been troublesome for years.
The European Space Agency originally envisioned a partnership with NASA, but the mission was nearly canceled in 2012 after NASA withdrew from the project after budget cuts by the administration of the then-president of the United States. Roscosmos then stepped in to help fill the hole left by NASA’s departure.
Roscosmos has developed a landing platform for the ExoMars rover and plans to launch the mission on a Proton rocket from the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan. The launch was originally scheduled for 2018, then was delayed to 2020 due to parachute issues, and then to late September 2022.
“The ESA Governing Council met in Paris from 16 to 17 March to assess the impact of the conflict in Ukraine on the ExoMars mission and agreed that it is currently not possible to meet with Roscosmos in 2022,” ESA said in a statement. Cooperation on the launch of the Mars rover mission in 2019. Member States authorize the Director of the European Space Agency to take appropriate measures, suspend the corresponding cooperative activities, and conduct rapid industrial research to better determine the options available for future ExoMars missions.”
ExoMars’ new plan will not only replace Russian rockets, but the landing platform, Russian instruments and radioisotope heating devices included in the rover itself may also be replaced. “What we really need to do is look at the options and choose whether to do it alone in Europe or in collaboration with other partners,” Ashbach said. Aschbach also said that one option is to resume cooperation with NASA. He said: “We will consider cooperation with NASA, which has expressed a very strong willingness to support.” ”
Parker believes a launch in 2024 is still feasible if cooperation with the Russian space agency resumes. “A more radical restructuring would lead to a launch in 2026 when there are two launch opportunities or a launch in 2028,” he said.
But Aschbach said of the revised launch date: “Honestly, this won’t happen until 2026, there are just too many challenges. I have a lot of sympathy for those who have worked on this project for decades and also Can understand the frustration of people in engineering, science. But I will say that even if we launch later, this rover is going to achieve amazing scientific results.”
It’s unclear whether the mission could still use the Russian-built landing pad, or if any hardware would need to be rebuilt, which would impose additional costs on the European Space Agency.
In response to the sanctions, Russia had previously terminated cooperation with the European Spaceport in French Guiana. Since 2011, European launch provider Arianespace has been using Russian Soyuz rockets to complement its heavy-duty Ariane 5 and lightweight Vega rockets.
The ESA said in its statement that the agency is now evaluating alternative launch options for the four previously planned Soyuz missions. However, Europe and Russia still maintain active cooperation on the ISS. “The ISS program will continue to operate with the primary objective of continuing the safe operation of the ISS, including ensuring the safety of the crew,” the European Space Agency said in a statement.
European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer is currently with Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, as well as NASA astronauts Kayla Barron, Raja Chari, Mark Vande Hei and Thomas Marshburn co-resident at this orbital outpost.