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The head of ESA said Tuesday that the European Space Agency has ended its cooperation with Russia to launch the first interplanetary spacecraft in Europe.
Roscosmos and the European Space Agency are collaborating on a mission involving the European ExoMars Rover, which is designed to search for signs of life on Mars.
The launch of the rover in September 2022 is just the beginning hanged in MarchJust a few weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Now, the ESA Council has officially cut ties with Roscosmos over this joint venture as a result of the war in Ukraine and ongoing sanctions, ESA Director General Joseph Asbacher wrote on Tuesday. in twitter.
He said more details about the future of the mission would be announced on July 20.
The European Space Agency is considering working with NASA going forward as it becomes clear that the agency needs to “cut” its relationship with Russia, Ashbacher says.
“Geopolitically, it is clear that we need to sever our ties with Russia, and this decision is taken by member states,” He previously told CNN. “So yeah, it’s a shame for all the science, technology and engineers who have been working on this for four decades. But there is no other choice to be made.”
Rover was originally slated to launch in July 2020, but the pandemic has pushed the relaunch window.
Also known as Rosalind Franklin, ExoMars is a distinguished scientist who helped decipher the molecular structure of DNA, According to the European Space Agency.
Part of the probe’s mission involved drilling holes up to 6.6 feet (2 meters) to collect samples for analysis on board. ExoMars is expected to travel Several kilometers during the mission And able to move in between 164 and 328 feet (50 and 100 meters) for each Martian day, just less than an hour longer than the 24 hours on planet Earth, According to NASA.
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