Russia started to invade Ukraine on February 24, and nobody knows for sure how the horror will end. The ongoing invasion has captured the attention of the whole world, and sanctions have already started to be imposed. As a result, the situation may even postpone some scientific events.
Astronomers had been hoping to launch the first European rover to Mars this year. But the recent events from Ukraine are likely to delay the plan, as the European Space Agency (ESA) reveals. The agency wrote via its official website:
Regarding the ExoMars programme continuation, the sanctions and the wider context make a launch in 2022 very unlikely. ESA’s Director General will analyse all the options and prepare a formal decision on the way forward by ESA Member States.
Quoted by the same source, the ESA also stated:
We are fully implementing sanctions imposed on Russia by our Member States. 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 (in particular with NASA on the International Space Station).
The ExoMars rover represents a collaboration between ESA and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. The rover was initially expected to launch in September 2022, and it has the purpose of trying to answer the ultimate question about the Red Planet: did alien life ever exist there?
The Trace Gas Orbiter represents one of the two missions from the ExoMars program, and it was launched in 2016. The mission sent an atmospheric research orbiter, as well as the Schiaparelli demonstration lander to the Red Planet.
Whether any alien life ever existed on Mars or not, we have to admit that both scenarios might be equally frightening.