The first European Mars rover "Rosalind Franklin" will not be launched in September as planned with a Russian rocket.

This was announced by the ESA Council, the political governing body of the European Space Agency, on Thursday after a meeting in Paris that had been called the day before to discuss the situation following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

ESA said it was unable to continue working with Russian partner Roskosmos for a launch in 2022.

According to the press release, the European space agency is fully in line with the sanctions that its member states have imposed on Russia.

In addition to most EU countries, ESA also includes Great Britain, Norway and Switzerland.

Latvia and Lithuania are associate members, as is Canada, while Estonia is a full member.

The Mars rover isn't the only problem

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher has now been commissioned by the Council to suspend cooperation with the Russians and to have options for other launch options examined as quickly as possible.

But even if one were found soon, the mission could not fly until the end of 2024 at the earliest, because Mars is only in a position on Earth that is suitable for such missions every two years.

Originally, "Rosalind Franklin" - formerly "ExoMars Rover" - should have started in 2018, but the completion of the mobile landing probe was delayed.

The 2020 launch window was then missed, mainly as a result of the corona pandemic, while the new American and the first Chinese Mars rover started in 2020.

In addition to the Mars mission, the Council also discussed the problems arising from the suspension of all launches of Russian Soyuz rockets from the European space center in Kourou, French Guiana.

Russia had withdrawn its technicians from Kourou in response to the sanctions.

Four ESA missions are thus without the rockets intended for them, including the last two navigation satellites of the Galileo network - a European counterpart to GPS.

ESA is now examining whether these missions can be launched with some of the first flights of Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket.

The completion of Ariane 6 was delayed due to the pandemic.

Her maiden flight will take place at the end of the year at the earliest.

Cooperation between ESA and Roscosmos therefore only exists on the International Space Station (ISS), where Europa operates the science module "Columbus" and currently also provides a crew member in the form of the German astronaut Matthias Maurer.

"The ISS program is continuing normally," said the ESA.

The main goal is continued safe operation of the station, which also ensures the safety of the crew.