Posted: Sun, Apr 10, 2022, 12:26 PM ET (1626 GMT)
ESA is continuing discussions with NASA on help it can provide for ESA’s ExoMars mission. ESA suspended plans to cooperate with Russia on the rover mission after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leaving the mission without a launch vehicle and other critical systems. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said Wednesday that NASA offered assistance, and the two agencies are talking about potential roles, while ESA also studies replacing Russian contributions with European ones. Aschbacher said he expected the agency to decide this summer on its approach to ExoMars. ESA is also examining how to launch payloads that were to fly on Soyuz rockets, with the possibility of limited use of non-European vehicles under consideration.
