European ExoMars program delayed by Russia's war in Ukraine

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) – In addition to hundreds of lives lost, thousands of people displaced, and massive damage to property and economies, the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war is also wreaking havoc on the arts, sports competitions, and now space exploration.

The European Space Agency’s ExoMars program will probably be postponed due to the war, the agency said Monday.

As part of a project with Russia, the UK-produced Rosalind Franklin spacecraft was scheduled to launch with a Russian rocket in September and land on Mars in eight months via Russian hardware.

It said the agency is fully implementing sanctions imposed by the member states on Russia over the war, which is now nearly a week old.

"We are assessing the consequences on each of our ongoing programmes conducted in cooperation with the Russian state space agency Roscosmos and align our decisions to the decisions of our Member States in close coordination with industrial and international partners," it said.

"Regarding the Soyuz launch campaign from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou (French Guiana), we take note of the Roscosmos decision to withdraw its workforce from Kourou."

The agency will assess alternative launchers for ongoing projects including the current places and the upcoming Vega-C and Ariane 6 launchers.

"Regarding the programme continuation, the sanctions and the wider context make a launch in 2022 very unlikely," it underlined.

Since Russia's war on Ukraine began last Thursday, it has been met by outrage from the international community, with the EU, UK, and US implementing a range of economic sanctions on Russia.

So far, at least 136 civilians, including 13 children, have been killed and 400 others, including 26 children, injured in Ukraine, according to UN figures.

Nearly 680,000 people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, the UN Refugee Agency said on Tuesday.