{"id":31195,"date":"2022-04-12T08:53:44","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T08:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=107188"},"modified":"2022-04-12T09:22:10","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T09:22:10","slug":"rosalind-franklin-rover-launch-suspended-over-war-in-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/rosalind-franklin-rover-launch-suspended-over-war-in-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Rosalind Franklin Rover launch suspended over war in Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Ezzy Pearson\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 12 April 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

The Rosalind Franklin<\/a><\/span> rover<\/a> \u2013 the latest European Space Agency (ESA) Mars mission that was scheduled for launch in <\/span>September 2022 \u2013 has been suspended as part of ESA\u2019s move to cut ties with Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.<\/p>\n

The move comes in response to the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The ExoMars rover was to use its 2m drill to probe deeper beneath the Red Planet\u2019s surface than any previous mission, hoping to find signs of past life.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
The Rosalind Franklin rover during environmental tests at Airbus, Toulouse, France, in 2019. Credit: Airbus<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Roscosmos is supplying several key components of the mission, most notably both the launch rocket and the Kazachok landing platform that would carry the rover to the Martian surface.<\/p>\n

But in a meeting on 28 February, the 22 member states of ESA asked the agency to enforce sanctions against Russia.<\/p>\n

Then, on 17 March, ESA announced it would be suspending Rosalind Franklin\u2019s launch and seeking to replace all Roscosmos components required for the mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision was made that this launch cannot happen, given the current circumstances and especially the sanctions that are imposed by our member states,\u201d says ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis makes it practically impossible, but also politically impossible to have a launch of [the rover] in September.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
An artist\u2019s impression of the ExoMars rover on the surface of the Red Planet. Copyright: ESA\/ATG medialab<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

ESA is looking into ways it can continue with the ExoMars mission without Roscosmos, such as working with NASA.<\/p>\n

But the Mars<\/a> mission would need to be extensively reworked and wouldn\u2019t be ready until 2026 at the earliest.<\/p>\n

The mission is just one of many that have been affected. ESA has ceased all Soyuz<\/a> launches from its facility in French Guiana, while Russia has broken several contracts to supply parts in response.<\/p>\n

One place that both ESA and NASA continue to cooperate with Roscosmos, for the time being, is aboard the International Space Station<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The ISS is specifically designed to require the involvement of all parties to function, and Roscosmos is responsible for maintaining its orbit.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Credit: NASA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Roscosmos is only contracted to support the Space Station until 2024, however.<\/p>\n

The agency was in talks to renew its commitment until 2031, when the station was due to be decommissioned, but the head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin has made comments about withdrawing support, should the sanctions continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll closely monitor the actions of our American partners and if they continue to be hostile, we\u2019ll return to the question of the existence of the International Space Station,\u201d Rogozin said.<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n

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By Ezzy Pearson Published: Tuesday, 12 April 2022 at 12:00 am The Rosalind Franklin rover \u2013 the latest European Space Agency (ESA) Mars mission that was scheduled for launch in September 2022 \u2013 has been suspended as part of ESA\u2019s move to cut ties with Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. The move comes in response […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":31196,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/04\/rosalind-franklin-rover-launch-suspended-over-war-in-ukraine.jpg",1200,900,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/04\/rosalind-franklin-rover-launch-suspended-over-war-in-ukraine-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/04\/rosalind-franklin-rover-launch-suspended-over-war-in-ukraine-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/04\/rosalind-franklin-rover-launch-suspended-over-war-in-ukraine-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/04\/rosalind-franklin-rover-launch-suspended-over-war-in-ukraine-1024x768.jpg",800,600,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/04\/rosalind-franklin-rover-launch-suspended-over-war-in-ukraine.jpg",1200,900,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/04\/rosalind-franklin-rover-launch-suspended-over-war-in-ukraine.jpg",1200,900,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Ezzy Pearson Published: Tuesday, 12 April 2022 at 12:00 am The Rosalind Franklin rover \u2013 the latest European Space Agency (ESA) Mars mission that was scheduled for launch in September 2022 \u2013 has been suspended as part of ESA\u2019s move to cut ties with Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. The move comes in response…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/31195"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}