Published on :
It was one of the most anticipated space missions, searching for traces of past life on Mars, but it is on hold. ExoMars 2022, a joint program between Europe and Russia, will not take off in September as planned; the decision was taken this Thursday, March 17 by the council of ESA, the European Space Agency, in line with the sanctions taken by the old continent. It will, at best, be postponed to 2024.
It had to be the right one. After years of delay, the mission ExoMars should finally take off next September from the Baikonur cosmodrome. But the end of the collaboration with Russia changes everything: the project is now suspended pending an alternative solution. It will be at best in 2024 if relations with the Russians normalize again by then, if not 2026, or even 2028.
« There are literally hundreds of scientists from all over Europe, the United States and Russia who have worked tirelessly, says David Parker, director of exploration at ESA. Today we have a machine ready for take-off. ESA member states have taken a very painful decision to suspend this machine capable of searching for traces of past life on Mars. Mars is four and a half billion years old, we will wait a few more years. »
► To listen also: War in Ukraine: why has the space sector already lost so much?
Other programs at risk
If ExoMars is the most affected program, Europe and Russia had many other space partnerships; they are all now threatened. ” There are a large number of projects where Russia is involved, explains Joseph Aschbacher, the boss of the ESA. The ISS is the most obvious, we talked about ExoMars, there is the Moon and many others where we depend on Russian components. We make the list and go through it line by line. We will then determine how to proceed. »
The international space station, on the other hand, is not really affected by the current situation; she continues to operate normally with her crew mixing Russians, Americans and Europeans.