European Space Agency ends cooperation with Russia for 2022 Mars mission

The European Space Agency (ESA) on Thursday announced the cancellation of the Europe-Russia Mars mission over Russia’s invasion of its neighbour, Ukraine.

The decision to cancel the mission was taken at a meeting in Paris, where ESA’s ruling council “acknowledged the present impossibility of carrying out the ongoing cooperation with [Russia’s space agency] 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.”

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“We deeply deplore the human casualties and tragic consequences of the aggression towards Ukraine. While recognizing the impact on scientific exploration of space, ESA is fully aligned with the sanctions imposed on Russia by its Member States,” the ESA further said in a statement announcing the cancellation.

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher added that the space agency was assessing “options for a way forward” with the mission without Russian cooperation.

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The ESA had said earlier that the mission was “very unlikely” to go ahead after sanctions were imposed on Russia.

Despite the end of cooperation on the mission, however, the ESA said that the International Space Station (ISS) “continues to operate nominally.”

“The main goal is to continue safe operations of the ISS, including maintaining the safety of the crew,” the statement added.

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Since the invasion began and sanctions were imposed on Moscow, Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin has repeatedly warned that Western sanctions might lead to malfunctions aboard the ISS, causing it come crashing down to Earth.

Media reports suggest that the Russian segment of the ISS is responsible for correcting the orbit of the station, and Rogozin said days earlier that the ISS could “fall down into the sea or onto land.”

“But the populations of other countries, especially those led by the ‘dogs of war’, should think about the price of the sanctions against Roscosmos,” Rogozin had said.