EU space agency suspends joint Euro-Russia Mars project amid Ukraine war

By Handan Kazanci

ISTANBUL (AA) - The EU’s space agency said Thursday that it suspended a joint Euro-Russia project to determine if there has ever been life on Mars because of Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

The European Space Agency (ESA) said the decision to suspend the ExoMars project was made at a ruling council meeting on March 16 - 17 in Paris.

The agency said in a statement that it “acknowledged the present impossibility of carrying out the ongoing cooperation with Roscosmos on the ExoMars rover mission with a launch in 2022, and mandated the ESA Director-General to take appropriate steps to suspend the cooperation activities accordingly.”

The ruling was unanimous, the statement noted.

The agency also “authorised the ESA Director General to carry out a fast-track industrial study to better define the available options for a way forward to implement the ExoMars rover mission,” it said.

The agency said although it recognized the effect of its decision on scientific exploration of space, it “is fully aligned with the sanctions imposed on Russia by its Member States.”

“As an intergovernmental organisation mandated to develop and implement space programmes in full respect with European values, we deeply deplore the human casualties and tragic consequences of the aggression towards Ukraine,” it said.

- 'International Space Station Programme continues to operate'

The ESA said following the decision by the Russian state space agency, Roscosmos, to withdraw personnel from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, all missions scheduled for launch by Soyuz have been put on hold.

“The International Space Station Programme continues to operate nominally,” it said.

The statement indicated that the ESA is expected to “convene an extraordinary session of Council in the coming weeks to submit specific proposals for decision by Member States.”

ESA is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world, according to its website.

Launched in 2016, ExoMars aimed at finding out “whether life has ever existed on Mars” with two missions with the first one at the Trace Gas Orbiter and the second comprising a rover and surface platform planned for 2022.

The Russia-Ukraine war, which started on Feb. 24, has drawn international condemnation, led to financial restrictions on Moscow and spurred an exodus of global firms from Russia.