Following the war in Ukraine, ESA decided to look for alternative ways to deliver the rover of the ExoMars mission
The European Space Agency (ESA) decided to freeze cooperation with Roscosmos on the ExoMars mission due to the Russian invasion in Ukraine, and said that the launch of the mission in 2022 is impossible.
The ESA CEO will look for other options for the mission of the ExoMars project's main vehicle, the Rosalind Franklin rover.
Initially, it was planned that it would be launched into space by the Russian Proton-M launch vehicle, and it would land on Mars on the Kazachok platform, which is being built by the Lavochkin NPO.
ExoMars is a joint program of ESA and Roscosmos for the exploration of Mars.
Its first stage began in 2016: the Trace Gas Orbiter, which successfully entered orbit around Mars, and the Schiaparelli demonstration descent module, which crashed during landing.
The second ExoMars mission was planned for 2018, but then the launch was postponed to 2020 due to problems with the landing parachute
Then it was postponed again for another two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the agreement, signed back in 2013, Roscosmos was supposed to provide the Proton-M launch vehicle for this mission.
The Russian space agency would launch the flight module into space, and that one would deliver the Kazachok landing module with the Rosalind Franklin rover to Mars.
However, after Russian troops entered Ukraine, ESA said a rover launch in 2022 was "unlikely."
Nevertheless, the head of Roskosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, after that said that Proton-M was ready to be sent to Baikonur.
Now the ESA Governing Council has announced that it is impossible to continue cooperation with Roskosmos on ExoMars as before, and the launch of the mission in 2022 is also recognized as impossible under the current conditions.
The Governing Council has instructed the agency's CEO to freeze all activities on the project, as well as to explore other possibilities for launching the rover.
Rogozin said that Roscosmos plans to "replicate our landing module, provide it with the Angara launch vehicle and conduct this research expedition from the new launch complex of the Vostochny cosmodrome."
The ready-made Kazachok landing platform is currently being tested in Europe, and it is “impossible to take it to Russia due to the lack of air traffic.”
The Proton-M launch vehicle and the Briz-M upper stage, which were intended to launch the ExoMars mission, will be sent to the Baikonur Cosmodrome as scheduled, but will be used to launch another payload.
Source:
- ESA: https://www.esa.int/Newsroom/Press_Releases/ExoMars_suspended
- Interfax: https://www.interfax.ru/russia/828372
#russia #ukraine #esa #exomars #space #science #stem #sanctions