Space: ESA chief against possible return to close cooperation with Russia

(Hier finden Sie die deutsche Version des Beitrags)

The head of the European Space Agency cannot imagine that the ESA will cooperate as closely with Russia in the future as it did before the Russian attack on Ukraine began. He speaks for all member states, Josef Aschbacher assured the US magazine ArsTechnica. The assessment and the consequences reflect the geopolitical situation, "I think that's pretty clear". "The invasion of Ukraine really disgusts me," Aschbacher added. What is happening there contradicts European values and "we cannot work with a partner who is trampling these values with his feet".

Alternatives wanted

Aschbacher also confirmed to ArsTechnica that the ESA is currently looking for replacements for the no longer available Soyuz rockets, which were supposed to carry several payloads into space. In addition to possible alternatives from India and Japan, the US space company SpaceX is also being examined. It was a purely practical management decision, Aschbacher assured. One had to look at it unemotionally and from an economic point of view. With its reusable Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX has revolutionised the market for transporting payloads into space in recent years and is thus also a major competitor for Europe's space industry.

In response to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, all remaining launches with Russian Soyuz rockets from the European spaceport Kourou in French Guiana were cancelled at the beginning of March. Beyond that, the European Space Agency has also largely suspended cooperation with Russia, the major exception being the International Space Station (ISS). The Russian-European Mars mission ExoMars is also affected. Russia's space agency Roskosmos was supposed to provide not only the rocket but also the landing platform for the transport of the rover Rosalind Franklin. It is still unclear what will happen next, and a launch will probably not take place until 2028 at the earliest.

ExoMars already has an eventful history; originally, a launch of the rover was planned for 2011. The US space agency, which was still involved at the time, then withdrew from the project in 2011 due to financial problems - including the increasingly expensive work on the James Webb space telescope. Russia then entered the project in 2013. In 2016, the Trace Gas Orbiter was brought to Mars as part of the billion-dollar project, but the Schiaparelli lander crashed during the landing attempt. The Mars rover Rosalind Franklin is now waiting for a chance to fly, and without NASA it will probably not reach the Red Planet.

(mho)