Astronauts on the ISS will stop using the European manipulator

Russian crews on the International Space Station will no longer use the ERA manipulator.

“I’m ordering our crew on the ISS to stop working with the European ERA manipulator. let yourself [генеральный директор ЕКА Йозеф] Ashbacher with his boss [главой европейской дипломатии Жозепом] Borrell is flying into space and at least doing something useful in their life,” said Dmitry Rogozin, Roscosmos Managing Director.

The European Robotic Arm (ERA) remote-controlled space robot manipulator, created by ESA for the assembly work and maintenance of the Russian segment of the ISS, was installed on the Nauka module in May 2021. It was able to transfer equipment and supplies from the pressurized part of the station to its surface, without the astronauts needing to go into space.

Roscosmos’ decision to cease work on ERA was in response to the European Space Agency’s (ESA) refusal to cooperate on the ExoMars mission.

Mars for two

Roskosmos is working with the European Space Agency on the ExoMars automatic interplanetary station. With the help of this, scientists planned to find evidence of the existence of life on the planet.

On 12 July, the ESA Board of Directors decided to end its cooperation with Roscosmos in this area.

Josef Aschbacher, “The ESA Council discussed the rover and landing platform of the ExoMars mission, acknowledging the continuing conditions that led to the suspension of cooperation with Roscosmos, the conflict in Ukraine and the sanctions adopted in this regard.” The rationale for the ESA decision.

He said new ideas on how to continue with other partners will be presented at a media briefing on July 20.

Earlier, the agency has already stated that the launch of ExoMars is unlikely due to sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation for military operations in Ukraine.

“But has this head of the European Space Agency considered how many thousands of scientists and engineers his decision has outstripped in Europe and Russia? Is he accountable for sabotaging a joint Mars mission?” Rogozin commented on ESA’s decision.

The press service of Roscosmos, in turn, emphasized that Russia can implement its own part of the ExoMars project at the national level or with the participation of partners from “friendly countries”.

“It is unfortunate for Europe that the search for signs of life on Mars has become less important than the political ambitions of individual European officials and countries,” the state company said.

your duty

In March, Rogozin announced that Russia would independently launch a probe to Mars. According to Roscosmos General Manager, work will be launched in the near future and shipment will take place on the Angara-A5 launch vehicle from the Vostochny cosmodrome.

“We’re accountable to our science, we’re going to have to repeat that,” Rogozin said.

At the same time, the head of Roscosmos is unsure whether a rover is required for the mission.

“The lander itself is a research station. It will be enough to complete the task. We will repeat what we have already done, but will they? [европейцы] without us, there are great doubts,” said Rogozin.

According to him, the European Space Agency will need at least six years to rebuild the landing module for ExoMars, created by NPO Lavochkin.

Kazakh’s return from Italy

The Mars reconnaissance station consists of a European flight module, a Russian landing module with a “Kazachok” landing platform and a European rover “Rosalind Franklin”. Its launch was supposed to take place from September 20 to October 1, 2022. The “Kazachka” landing on Mars from Rosalind Franklin was expected by June 2023.

Now Kazachok is located on the territory of the Thales Alenia Space enterprise in Turin. Roscosmos had previously reported cannot return the landing module from Italy due to the lack of air traffic. For the Russian program to explore Mars, the company will need a new landing platform.

“It’s not hard to replicate the Kazachok lander we built for the ExoMars mission. All the drawings are there, that’s our job, ”said the head of Roscosmos.

Highlights about the Mars exploration program

ExoMars is a joint program of ESA and Roscosmos for the exploration of Mars, consisting of two projects – the ExoMars-TGO probe and the Rosalind Franklin rover. The main aim of the project was to search for evidence of the existence of life on Mars in the past and present. Roscosmos agreed to participate in this project in 2012.

The first spacecraft successfully reached Mars orbit in October 2016 and studied the properties of the planet’s atmosphere. The launch of the second half of the ExoMars mission was originally scheduled for 2018, but later the launch was delayed to 2020 and then to 2022.