Berlin. July 12. INTERFAX - The European Space Agency (ESA) is ending its previously suspended cooperation with the Russian state corporation Roscosmos on the ExoMars-2022 Mars program, the head of the agency, Josef Aschbacher, said on Tuesday.
"The Council instructed me to officially terminate the currently suspended cooperation with Roscosmos on the mission of the rover and the ExoMars landing platform," Ashbacher said on social networks.
In March, the ruling council of the ESA recognized that it was impossible to continue cooperation with the state corporation Roscosmos within the framework of the ExoMars mission for research on the surface of Mars.
On March 17, Ashbacher said that "the launch of ExoMars was planned in September from Baikonur, but it was decided that it could not be carried out taking into account the current circumstances, in particular the sanctions imposed by our member countries." "Therefore, from a political point of view, the launch of ExoMars is not possible in September," Ashbacher added.
He stressed that the launch of the mission without the participation of Roscosmos will be possible no earlier than 2026. He also added that the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) could become a possible partner in the implementation of the program.
On the same day, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, in turn, said that the state corporation would be able to conduct a Mars mission on its own in a few years.
"Yes, we will lose several years, but we will repeat our lander, provide it with an Angara launch vehicle and conduct this research expedition independently from the new launch complex of the Vostochny cosmodrome," Rogozin said in the telegram channel.
On February 28, ESA reported that the launch of the Russian-European ExoMars device in 2022 is unlikely due to sanctions against Russia. On March 10, Rogozin stated that the launch of the Russian-European spacecraft ExoMars-2022 this year, most likely, will not take place due to the destructive position of the ESA.
In March 2020, ESA and Roscosmos announced the postponement of the launch of ExoMars from 2020 to 2022 due to the need for additional tests of updated equipment, as well as difficulties in operation due to the coronavirus pandemic.
ExoMars is a joint program of ESA and the Russian state corporation Roscosmos for the exploration of Mars, the main purpose of which is to search for evidence of the existence of life on the Red Planet in the past and present.
The ExoMars station consists of a European flight module and a Russian descent vehicle (landing module). The latter includes the Russian landing platform "Kazachok" and the European rover Rosalind Franklin.
