European Space Agency Officially Terminates Partnership With Russia's Roscosmos for Mars Mission ExoMars Rover

Due to sanctions imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, the European Space Agency (ESA) cut ties with Russia on a Mars rover project on which the two were collaborating. The mission was suspended in March, and the partnership was officially terminated.

The European Space Agency Looks for a New Mars Rover Project Partner

The European Space Agency's chief, Joseph Aschbacher, said on Twitter that the ESA Council mandated him to terminate the suspended co-operation with Roscosmos officially. The mission to which he was referring was the ExoMars Rover and Surface Platform mission. He said a media briefing will be conducted on July 20, where plans made with other partners will be made public.

On a different note, today @ESA Council addressed the ExoMars Rover and Surface Platform mission, acknowledging that the circumstances which led to the suspension of the cooperation with Roscosmos – the war in Ukraine and the resulting sanctions – continue to prevail.
— Josef Aschbacher (@AschbacherJosef) July 12, 2022

Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, posted his response on Telegram, according to France24. He asked the cosmonauts not to use the European Robotic Arm on the International Space Station (ISS). Rogozin was accused of sabotaging the collaboration and partnership. He said that the space agency would do its best to return the lander to Italy.

"Has the head of the European Space Agency thought about the work of thousands of scientists and engineers in Europe and Russia which has been ended by this decision? Is he prepared to answer for sabotaging a joint Mars mission?" he said.

The European Robotic Arm (ERA), one of the three robots installed recently on the International Space Station, is the only one that can access the Russian segment. The 11-meter long robot, which resembles a pair of compasses, is described on the ESA website as helping to move cargo inside and outside the ISS and having the ability to transfer spacewalkers like a cherry-picker crane.

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The European Space Agency Original Plan with Roscosmos

The termination of a partnership has significant effects on the mission. Rosalind Franklin, for instance, was supposed to launch in September, but mission team members have said that a launch before 2028 is now doubtful due to the requirement to locate a new landing platform and new rocket

In the initial plan, the Roscosmos and Russian military-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan would have served as the launch location for the Rosalind Franklin rover. The rover was also planned to land on and launch from the Kazachok lander, which was made in Russia.

The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused many other Russian space alliances to dissolve. French business Arianespace no longer regularly launches satellites into orbit using Russian-built Soyuz rockets, and Russian rocket engines are no longer marketed to American corporations.

The two-phase ExoMars program resulted from a lengthy relationship between ESA and Roscosmos. One of the successful projects they collaborated on was launching the European Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli landing demonstrator. They were launched toward the Red Planet on a Russian Proton rocket from Baikonur in March 2016.TGO made a successful landing on Mars and is now presently exploring it. Before the ExoMars rover's arrival in October 2016, the Schiaparelli mission, intended to test landing technology, crashed as it tried to touch down.