ESA officially severed ties between the Mars mission and Russia, angry Moscow protested

The European Space Agency (ESA) has officially ended cooperation with Russia on a mission to send a rover to Mars, with Russia’s space chief reacting backlash by banning astronauts. on the ISS using a European-made robotic arm.

The ESA previously suspended business relationships ExoMars The planned mission used a Russian rocket to send the European Rosalind Franklin probe to the red planet to drill for signs of life, due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher tweeted on Tuesday that as the war and sanctions “continue to apply”, the agency will “officially end” relations with Russia on ExoMars and its landing platform. it.

The head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin gave an angry response.

“Does the head of the European Space Agency think about the work of thousands of scientists and engineers in Europe and Russia that have been ended by this decision? Telegram.

“It’s my turn to order our crew on ISS to stop cooperating with the European manipulator’s ERA,” he added.

Installed just a few months ago, the European Robotic Arm (ERA) is one of three such robots on the International Space Station, but it is the only one that can reach the Russian segment.

11 meters long robotlooks like a pair of compasses, helps move payloads inside and outside the ISS, and can also transport space walkers “like a cherry picking crane,” according to the ESA’s website.

The launch of ExoMars was suspended once in 2020 due to the pandemic, then the planned launch for September this year was postponed due to the war in March.

Aschbacher last month said he was in “stressful discussions” with the US space agency NASA to bring people to Marsadded that he is “very confident that we find a good partnership”.