ESA expects NASA backing for suspended Mars mission
21:50 JST, June 28, 2022
BERLIN (Reuters) — The European Space Agency expects strong support from its U.S. counterpart NASA after the agency’s plans to cooperate with Russia on a Mars research mission were suspended due to the Ukraine war.
ESA said in March it was suspending cooperation with Russia’s Roscosmos space agency on their joint ExoMars rover mission to search for signs of life on the surface of Mars in the wake of the Ukraine war and sanctions imposed on Moscow. The project was the agency’s largest cooperation project with Roscosmos.
“Administrator Bill Nelson has given us a clear message: NASA wants to help Europe in this situation,” ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher told reporters on June 22 at a news conference at the ILA Berlin Air Show trade fair.
He said ESA talks with NASA over the possible support would be finalized in the coming weeks.
The Mars mission will now be delayed until at least 2026 as spaceships have to be launched in coordination with the movement of Earth and Mars, Aschbacher told Reuters in an interview after the conference.
He also said talks between ESA and Roscosmos mid-June focused solely on the details of closing the partnership that the agency decided to suspend in March.
“Most ExoMars hardware is in Italy, with Russian components in it. Likewise, we have other hardware in Russia. And we have to discuss what we do. Europe needs to get back its components and the Russians want to get back theirs,” Aschbacher said.
He said while the cooperation with Russia was formally only a suspension, a deal with NASA would mean termination of the Russian partnership.
Aschbacher told Reuters the agency also expects no impact on its research operations after cutting ties with Russia.
“The majority of our programs does not involve Russia. People forget our two or three projects with Russia’s involvement are just a few out of very many.”
He said the agency had been able to keep around 80% of its existing operations and is starting new projects, including infrastructure for Earth observation, cybersecurity and autonomous European connectivity.
ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, who returned to Earth in May after spending 175 days on the International Space Station, said his team ran more than 240 experiments during that one mission.
"News Services" POPULAR ARTICLE
-
FBI Identifies Thomas Matthew Crooks as ‘Subject Involved’ in Trump Rally Shooting
-
Donald Trump Whisked off Stage in Pennsylvania after Apparent Gunshots Rang Through the Crowd
-
Japanese Executive among 11 Arrested in Myanmar for Inflating Rice Prices
-
Japan’s Nikkei Reclaims 40,000 Level on Weak Yen, Foreign Buying (UPDATE 1)
-
U.S. President Joe Biden Drops Out of the 2024 Race after Disastrous Debate Inflamed Age Concerns
JN ACCESS RANKING
- Aviation Fuel Shortage Causes Problems at Regional Airports; Growing Demand, Lack of Workers to Transport
- Prices of over 10,000 Food and Beverage Items to Rise This Year; Figure is down from over 30,000 Last Year
- Sony Group to End Production of Blu-ray Discs; Market Has Shrunk Due To Growth Of Hard Disk Drives, Streaming
- Japan Ministry Concerned Over Same-Sex Couple Receiving City-Issued Resident Certificates Referring to ‘Common-Law Husband’
- Japan Court OKs Sex Change without Surgery