After the European "Hard" .. Russia: We will ascend to Mars alone!
Russia will start work on sending its own mission to Mars after the European Space Agency suspended a joint project in the wake of military operations in Ukraine, the Interfax news agency quoted a senior official as saying.
On Thursday, the European Space Agency announced that it would be impossible to continue cooperation with Russia on the ExoMars mission.
A Russian rocket was due to take a European-made probe to Mars later this year.
"In the very near future, we will begin work on a mission to Mars," said Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos).
Interfax quoted him as saying that he did not believe there was necessarily a need for a probe because the Russian craft designed to transport the probe would be able to carry out the required scientific work.
Rogozin said there were "great skepticism" about what the European Space Agency could do without Russia, which already has a missile, launch site and lander.
He said the ESA would need at least six years to develop its own module.
In response to the sanctions, Roscosmos has already suspended its cooperation with Europe on space launches and announced that it will stop supplying the United States with rocket engines.
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