Josef Aschbacher February 28, 2022Īlong with the United States, the European Union announced a list of new restrictive sanctions against Russia following the Ukraine invasion.
Many difficult decisions are now being taken at ESA in consideration of the sanctions implemented by the governments of our Member States. We deplore the tragic events taking place in Ukraine, a crisis which escalated dramatically into war in recent days. The entire mission is meant to launch on a Russian Proton rocket as well. Russia is providing the landing element that will help get the rover to the surface, known as the Kazachok lander. The Rosalind Franklin rover has been built and tested by ESA, designed to drill into the Martian terrain and look for signs of life. “ESA’s Director General will analyse all the options and prepare a formal decision on the way forward by ESA Member States.”īoth ESA and Roscosmos are providing crucial elements for the rover’s mission.
“Regarding the ExoMars programme continuation, the sanctions and the wider context make a launch in 2022 very unlikely,” ESA wrote in an update on its website. The rover’s launch was tentatively planned for this summer, but ESA is now casting doubt on that timeline. Still, ESA and Roscosmos continued to push forward with the second phase of the mission: launching a Mars rover that has since been dubbed the Rosalind Franklin rover, after the British chemist whose work led to the discovery of DNA’s structure. “The sanctions and the wider context make a launch in 2022 very unlikely”