The European Space Agency (ESA) on Tuesday suspended a joint Russian-European rover mission in response to Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.
ESA chief Josef Aschbacher tweeted that the agency’s council of ministers had determined the circumstances surrounding the termination of cooperation with Russia on ExoMars in March “continue to prevail” and that the formal partnership has now ended.
“The Council has authorized me to officially terminate the currently suspended cooperation with [Russia’s space agency] Roscosmos in the ExoMars Rover and Surface Platform mission,” Aschbacher said.
Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin hit back at the decision, calling it “sabotage” and ordering Russian cosmonauts to “stop working” with the European Robotic Arm (ERA), part of the equipment that has begun to be used on the International Space Station (ISS). last year year.
“I, for my part, order our ISS crew to stop working with the European ERA manipulator,” Rogozin wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “How can we talk about Mars with Europeans or Venus with Americans if their governments are trying to kill as many Russians and Ukrainians as possible…?”
ESA, which has 22 member states, signed a cooperation agreement with Roscosmos for the ExoMars partnership in 2013. Among other goals, the mission was designed to search for life on the planet.
Western sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February – particularly bans on the export of high-tech equipment – have had significant consequences for Roscosmos and Russia’s space program.
ESA said in March that it had commissioned an “accelerated industrial study” to look at ways to continue the ExoMars mission without Russian involvement.
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