Posts

Showing posts with the label Mars

ExoMars 2022 delayed: Europe-Russia Tussle.

Image
 ~Preet. The European Space Agency's ExoMars 2022 mission will not launch as scheduled in September 2022, since the agency has halted all collaboration with Russia's space programme Roscosmos. Previously, Russia's space agency ROSCOSMOS stated that it will not work with Germany on cooperative experiments in the Russian component of the International Space Station (ISS). It is a two-stage project, with the first stage launched in 2016 atop a Proton-M rocket, consisting of the European Trace Gas Orbiter and a test lander dubbed Schiaparelli. The orbiter was successful, but the test lander failed on its way to Mars. The second stage of the mission, which includes a rover and a surface platform, was initially scheduled for July 2020. However, due to technological difficulties, it was postponed until September. The European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) were the original ExoMars collaborators, however NASA withdrew out in 2012 ow