Is ExoMars cursed?
This space mission which planned to send a rover to Mars was initially supposed to start in 2018. The project was postponed to 2020, then 2022… and now faces a new problem, reports
Numerama
.
The rover, named Rosalind Franklin, is finally ready to take off after years of delay.
The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian agency Roscosmos, which are collaborating on the project, planned a dispatch in September 2022, as ESA recalled on Monday in a press release.
Even with the two front wheels buried in the sand of the Martian terrain simulator, the #ExoMars rover test model easily extricates itself from an awkward position thanks to its unique mode of locomotion 👉 https://t .co/AonMf9yj2G
📹@Thales_Alenia_S pic.twitter.com/Bw8NwtOpSO
— ESA France (@ESA_fr) December 3, 2021
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A project postponed to 2026 or 2028
But the war in Ukraine thwarted all the plans of the space agencies.
Cooperation with Roscosmos having become impossible, ESA suspended its joint projects with the Russian body.
For its part, Russia has withdrawn all its Soyuz launchers from the European launch base in Guyana.
All these decisions, taken for diplomatic reasons as the conflict rages in Ukraine, have created a hole in space schedules.
In the meantime, the little rover will be stored in Italy.
Rosalind Franklin might not set foot on Mars for several years after all.
The most optimistic scenario is for 2026 or 2028.
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