On March 18, Russian Space Agency Director Rogozin announced through russia today that due to ESA's cancellation of the ExoMars 2022 Mars mission scheduled for launch this summer, "I don't think there is any need for a rover, enough to carry out this mission."
This means that Russian aerospace will launch a Mars mission independently without a rover, and at the same time means that the space cooperation between the two sides has been completely broken due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, and the launch of the ESA Rosalind Franklin rover has been postponed indefinitely.
ExoMars 2022 was once a follow-up mission to the Russian-European cooperation project ExoMars 2016, the Russian side was responsible for the proton rocket launch, the Cossack lander landed on Mars, and the ESA was responsible for the scientific exploration of rosalind Franklin rover.
The project was first approved in 2005 and initially planned to launch in 2011, but it was continuously delayed due to the continuous loading of exploration missions, increased technical difficulties, tight budgets, failed parachute tests, and the impact of the new crown epidemic. Miss this year's launch window, and the next launch window will have to wait until the end of 2024.
ExoMars 2022 (Mars Life Exploration 2022 Mission) originally planned mission deployment: 1.8 tons of Cossack Mars lander, built by Russia, carrying 13 probes; 207 kg Rosalind Franklin rover, equipped with 13 scientific instruments, including drilling equipment, sample extraction equipment and a variety of analyzers, forming a miniature Mars life exploration laboratory, and stored in a super clean environment, waiting for future probes to return samples.
Mission: This mission, joined by ESA and Roscosmos Russian Space Agency, is the second time they have collaborated on fire exploration. It is used to find signs of past and present Martian life, determine the water resources and geological conditions of Mars, assess the feasibility and hazards of future manned Mars missions, and prepare for future Mars sample retrieval missions.
In the ExoMars 2016 Mars mission launched 6 years ago, the TGO orbiter was successfully deployed and operated to this day, while the Skia Pareli lander failed to deploy, crashing into the surface of Mars at 540 km/ h and destroying it.
The ill-fated ExoMars series of missions to explore life on Mars has now become the direct victim of the complete rupture of European-Russian relations, and more far-reaching effects can be found in -