Russian-European Mars mission 'ExoMars' suspended over Russia-Ukraine war

Amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced on Thursday that they were suspending a Russian-European space mission to Mars. Due to sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and its "tragic consequences", a Russian-European mission to land a rover on Mars has been suspended, the ESA council said.

A press release from the ESA council said, "As an intergovernmental organisation mandated to develop and implement space programmes in full respect with European values, we deeply deplore the human casualties and tragic consequences of the aggression towards Ukraine."  

Speaking about the sanctions which are being imposed by several western countries on Russia due to its military action in Ukraine, the ESA council said that it recognises the impact on scientific exploration of space and, at the same time, fully aligns with the sanctions imposed on Russia by its member states in Europe.

ExoMars Mission

The ExoMars Mission was a joint collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos. On Thursday, ESA announced the mission's suspension amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The mission had been scheduled to launch in the month of September, employing a Russian launcher and lander to position the rover on Mars. The aim of ExoMars was to search for signs of life on Mars as it drills into the soil of the red planet.

The ESA ruling council, which met in Paris on March 16 and 17, said, "Acknowledged the present impossibility of carrying out the ongoing cooperation with Roscosmos on the ExoMars rover mission with a launch in 2022, and mandated the ESA Director-General to take appropriate steps to suspend the cooperation activities accordingly."

The mission was supposed to be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan by a Russian Proton rocket, then land on Mars using Russia's Kazachok lander.

"The ruling council also authorised the ESA Director General to carry out a fast-track industrial study to better define the available options for a way forward to implement the ExoMars rover mission," ESA Council said in the statement.

Roscosmos withdrawal from Spaceport in French Guiana

The decision to suspend space missions that were in collaboration with the Russian space agency comes after Roscosmos' decision to withdraw its personnel from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana. Roscosmos' withdrawal was a reaction to EU sanctions on Russia over the invasion.

 "All missions scheduled for launch by Soyuz have been put on hold.  These concern essentially four institutional missions for which ESA is the launch service procurement entity (Galileo M10, Galileo M11, Euclid and EarthCare) and one additional institutional launch," said the ESA council in a statement on Thursday.

Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia's space agency, warned over the weekend that Western sanctions against Russia could lead to the fall of ISS.