The European Space Agency (ESA) suspended the ongoing cooperation with Roscosmos, its Russian counterpart. They had a launch planned for this year. It is the ExoMars rover mission. Due to recent events, a mission to Mars was suspended.
Mission with delays
The ESA Governing Council assessed the situation arising from the war in Ukraine. It recognized the “current impossibility of carrying out ongoing cooperation with Roscosmos.” Director General Josef Aschbacher was ordered to suspend cooperation activities. They will conduct an accelerated industrial study looking for “available options to implement the mission.”
The launch was scheduled for July 2020. The pandemic forced the joint mission to be delayed to September of this year. The mission will search for evidence of life on Mars, both past and present.
“ESA is fully aligned with the sanctions imposed on Russia by its member states,” the agency explains in a statement.
All missions scheduled for the Soyuz launch were suspended. These essentially concern four institutional missions for which ESA is the launch services procurement entity. They are already starting an evaluation of possible alternative launch services for these missions.
New Pathways
A mission to Mars was suspended, but other projects continue. The International Space Station Program continues to operate nominally. The primary objective is to continue safe operations of the ISS. This includes maintaining crew safety.
A first analysis of the technical and programmatic impacts on all other activities affected by the war in Ukraine has also been performed. The Director General intends to find rapid viable alternatives. He will convene an extraordinary session of the Council in the coming weeks. By that day they will have specific proposals for decision by the Member States.
