The spacecraft's Mars mission was canceled due to the war

The launch project of the Rosalind Franklin spacecraft has been suspended indefinitely due to the Russia-Ukraine war, the ESA Council said in a statement.

The statement said that due to the tragedy that has been going on in Ukraine since February 24, it is not possible for ESA to send spacecraft to Mars in 2022 with the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos).

ESA, which as an intergovernmental organization is obliged to develop and implement space programs that are absolutely committed to European values, is deeply saddened by the loss of life caused by the attacks on Ukraine, dec statement said, although it is aware of the importance of scientific exploration of space, ESA fully complies with the sanctions against Russia.

On the other hand, ESA, which has not completely shelved the Mars rover project, is looking for alternatives to replace Russia in the launch.

The US Aerospace Agency (NASA) stands out among the alternatives dec

IT WAS SCHEDULED TO BE LAUNCHED WITH A RUSSIAN ROCKET IN SEPTEMBER

Rosalind Franklin, part of a project with Russia, was scheduled to be launched by a Russian rocket in September and landed on Mars using Russian hardware 8 months later.

The Russian space agency Roscosmos had announced over the weekend that it would suspend the launch of Russian Soyuz rockets from the European Kourou Space Base in French Guiana in response to European Union (EU) economic sanctions.

October September is the end of September for the launch of the spacecraft, named after one of the scientists who discovered the structure of DNA, the Englishman Rosalind Franklin, there is a narrow time limit of 10 days covering the beginning of October. With the ESA suspending the launch, the launch will be possible no earlier than 26 months later due to the position of the planets.