The European Space Agency (ESA) is ending cooperation with Roskosmos in projects exploring Mars.
The head of the agency, Josef Aschbacher, said that this decision was made by the board of directors in connection with sanctions against Russia.
The ESA did this because of the invasion of the Russian army into Ukraine. Roscosmos will no longer be involved in the ExoMars Rover missions. On July 20, ESA will provide information on further actions in these projects with other partners.
- The ExoMars mission was supposed to launch in 2022. From ESA, the Rosalind Franklin rover was supposed to participate in it, and Russia provided the Kozachok surface platform. From it, the rover was supposed to go to the surface of Mars, and the platform was planned to be used in studying the landing site.