ESA to Sanction Russia With Member States
ESA headquarters in Paris, France. Photo: ESA.
Intergovernmental agency the European Space Agency (ESA) is implementing sanctions its member states have imposed on Russia, ESA announced Monday.
“We are assessing the consequences on each of our ongoing programs conducted in cooperation with the Russian state space agency Roscosmos and align our decisions to the decisions of our member states in close coordination with industrial and international partners, in particular with NASA on the International Space Station,” ESA said in a statement.
The European Union, United States, United Kingdom, and other nations have imposed strict sanctions on Russia in the past week in response to Russia invading Ukraine. U.S. President Biden said in a speech last week that sanctions from allied nations would specifically target Russia’s aerospace industry and space program.
NASA has not yet made a statement on sanctions against Russia or collaboration on the ISS.
ESA also said Monday that the ExoMars launch of a Mars rover set for this year on a Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is now “very unlikely” and Director General Dr. Josef Aschbacher will prepare a decision.
Russian space agency Roscosmos is suspending cooperation with Europe on launches from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana and withdrawing its technical staff, Reuters reported over the weekend. The spaceport has been preparing for a European Galileo satellite launch in April on a Soyuz rocket.
“Regarding the Soyuz launch campaign from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou … we will consequently assess for each European institutional payload under our responsibility the appropriate launch service based notably on launch systems currently in operation and the upcoming Vega C and Ariane 6 launchers,” ESA said.
OneWeb is also preparing for a launch this month with Arianespace from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a Soyuz rocket. Neither OneWeb nor Arianespace have made a statement about whether the launch will go forward.