The European Space Agency (ESA) has also voluntarily suspended keyspace cooperation with Russia as Western countries have increased sanctions on Russia.
On March 17, local time, ESA issued a statement on its official website saying that to cooperate with the sanctions imposed on Russia by its member states, ESA will withdraw from the ExoMars Russia-Europe joint Mars scheduled to launch in September 2022. Task.
According to the Russian TASS news agency, the Russian Federal Space Agency responded that although the withdrawal of ESA will cost Russia several years, Russia can build its lander and rocket to conduct research and expeditions on Mars alone.
The European Space Agency said in a statement issued on the 17th that the ESA Management Committee held a meeting in Paris from the 16th to the 17th to assess the situation in Russia and Ukraine. The agency believes that it is currently impossible for ESA to continue cooperation with Roscosmos on the launch of the ExoMars probe in 2022, and therefore authorizes ESA to take appropriate measures to suspend cooperation with Russia.
In search of alternatives, ESA's Governing Council has also mandated a new study to determine if a better ExoMars mission is feasible.
In the statement, ESA also declared that, as an "intergovernmental organization mandated to develop and implement space programs with full respect for 'European values," the agency was "deeply responsible for the casualties caused by the so-called "Russian aggression against Ukraine". Regrets,” and fully endorsed the sanctions imposed on Russia by its member states.
ESA may instead seek to work with NASA after its cooperation with Russia went bankrupt. According to the British "Guardian" report on the 17th, ESA Director Josef Aschbacher (Josef Aschbacher) said: "Cooperation with NASA is one of the options we are studying, and NASA has expressed a very strong willingness to support us. "
But whatever ESA chooses, progress on the ExoMars project will be significantly delayed. Ashbach admitted that the probe is unlikely to launch before 2026, "but even that goal is very challenging."
According to the Russian TASS news agency, the Russian Federal Space Agency responded quickly on the 17th to ESA’s announcement to suspend cooperation, saying that Russia will ignore ESA and promote the Mars research and expedition project alone.
