The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has already had repercussions on many levels and, as we have seen, space has been no exception. After all, the European Space Agency (ESA) has suspended a mission to Mars to be carried out jointly with Russia and whose value is around one billion euros.
The decision was seen as inevitable.
ESA has suspended its billion-euro ExoMars mission. This project was developed in partnership with Russia and was to see its robotic rover launched in September. Recently, ESA member states voted to cancel its launch due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The decision has been taken that this launch cannot take place given the current circumstances and especially the sanctions imposed by our member states. This makes it practically impossible, but also politically impossible, to have a [do rover] In September.
Said Josef Aschbacher, Executive Director of ESA.
Josef Aschbacher, Executive Director of ESA
According to The Guardian, the rover, which was named following Rosalind Franklin, was assembled in the UK and was to be launched by a Russian rocket. Moreover, following the trip to Mars in a German spacecraft, it would have been flown to the surface by a Russian lander. Contrary to what was planned, the rover will be stored in a warehouse.
Given the current situation, ESA has requested a feasibility study to understand how to operate ExoMars without the involvement of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. On the table is NASA which, as revealed by Josef Aschbacher, has expressed a “strong will to support” the mission.
Rosalind Franklin is the second phase of ESA’s joint mission with Russia. The first, a satellite called Trace Gas Orbiter, launched in 2016, studies the atmosphere of Mars. Moreover, if the mission suspended by the ESA materializes, this satellite should function as a relay of telecommunications.
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