ESA ExoMars rover

The rover apparently is possibly detachable from its Russian lander. But this will require a new lander to be built as well as new launcher all this will cost more time and money. Plus it probably requires finding a new space partner. In other words the rover isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

Could ESA not launch the ExoMars rover on a different rocket Flyaway? There is always Ariane 6 or they could always use the SpaceX Falcon Heavy as an alternative.
 
The rover apparently is possibly detachable from its Russian lander. But this will require a new lander to be built as well as new launcher all this will cost more time and money. Plus it probably requires finding a new space partner. In other words the rover isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

Could ESA not launch the ExoMars rover on a different rocket Flyaway? There is always Ariane 6 or they could always use the SpaceX Falcon Heavy as an alternative.
It’s not the rover so much as the Russian built lander that’s the limitation here is my understanding of the matter.
 
And suspended now.

N° 9–2022: ExoMars suspended

17 March 2022

As an intergovernmental organisation mandated to develop and implement space programmes in full respect with European values, we deeply deplore the human casualties and tragic consequences of the aggression towards Ukraine. While recognising the impact on scientific exploration of space, ESA is fully aligned with the sanctions imposed on Russia by its Member States.

ExoMars

ESA’s ruling Council, meeting in Paris on 16-17 March, assessed the situation arising from the war in Ukraine regarding ExoMars, and unanimously:

acknowledged the present impossibility of carrying out the ongoing cooperation with Roscosmos on the ExoMars rover mission with a launch in 2022, and mandated the ESA Director General to take appropriate steps to suspend the cooperation activities accordingly; authorised the ESA Director General to carry out a fast-track industrial study to better define the available options for a way forward to implement the ExoMars rover mission.

Space Transportation

Following the decision by Roscosmos to withdraw their personnel from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, all missions scheduled for launch by Soyuz have been put on hold. These concern essentially four institutional missions for which ESA is the launch service procurement entity (Galileo M10, Galileo M11, Euclid and EarthCare) and one additional institutional launch.

Consequently, the ESA Director General has initiated an assessment on potential alternative launch services for these missions, which will include a review of the Ariane 6 first exploitation flights. A robust launch manifest for ESA missions’ launch needs, including for spacecraft originally planned for launch by Soyuz from Kourou, will be submitted to Member States.

The International Space Station

The International Space Station Programme continues to operate nominally. The main goal is to continue safe operations of the ISS, including maintaining the safety of the crew.

Way forward

Based on a first analysis of technical and programmatic impacts on all other activities affected by the war in Ukraine, the Director General intends to convene an extraordinary session of Council in the coming weeks to submit specific proposals for decision by Member States.

For further information, please contact ESA Newsroom and Media Relations Office – media@esa.int.

About the European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe’s gateway to space.

ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.

ESA has 22 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Slovenia, Latvia and Lithuania are Associate Members.

ESA has established formal cooperation with six Member States of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement.

By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, ESA can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. It is working in particular with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes as well as with Eumetsat for the development of meteorological missions.

 
We all know where Rogozin can stick his Proton - where the Sun never shines, and I don't mean the Arctic in winter.


They said they would reuse the Proton booster for another launch. I will LMAO to death if it goes kaboom.
 
Current situation for ESA

ExoMars is suspended until they figure out, who build the new lander and what Launch rocket (Ariane 64 or Falcon Heavy ?)

Soyuz Launch site in Europe’s Spaceport is abandoned by Russians with 3 Soyuz-2.1b rocket in storage there.
All planned Launches cancelled by Roscosmos and keep up to 8 billion euros already pay for launches
Seems Ariane 62 will replace Soyuz-2.1b faster as planned (original planned for 2025)

on 3 remaining Soyuz-2.1b, do i hear heavy breathing from Technical Museums in Speyer and Sinsheim ?
 
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The elephant in the room is Mars sample return which will be absorbing quite a bit of both NASA and ESA’s planetary budget as far as financing a new landing platform.
 
According Twitter
gave Dmitry Rogozin to TASS this Statement:
The Soyuz STB launch complex at Kourou Cosmodrom may mothballed forever,
Because Russia dosen't need "such unreliable parter" as ESA, which behaves in a crazy way !

WTF ?
 
According Twitter
gave Dmitry Rogozin to TASS this Statement:
The Soyuz STB launch complex at Kourou Cosmodrom may mothballed forever,
Because Russia dosen't need "such unreliable parter" as ESA, which behaves in a crazy way !

WTF ?
Oligarch and corrupt moron. May he breaks his neck jumping from a trampoline !
 
not so harsh Archibald
let him, stumble into Soyuz launch pit...
...during a Soyuz launch
 
No death wishes or morbid fantasies on this forum, I know the rules.
This duly acknowledged... ridiculous but appropriate deaths for any rocket nerd (Rogozin or not) would be
- a Moonraker like incineration by rocket exhaust
- a Marshall Nedelin wooden chair near a soon-to-explode booster

...

Reminds me of that joke about French fascist, antisemit Jean Marie Le Pen.

"Do you realize his father actually died in Auschwitz ?
...
"Wuuuut ?
...
"Yep - he fell to his death from a watchtower !
 
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And that’s it into storage now.

Rover ready – next steps for ExoMars

28/03/2022

In brief

ESA’s ExoMars rover is confirmed technically ready for launch, and a fast-track study is under way to determine options for bringing the mission to Mars.

In-depth

The ESA-led Rosalind Franklin rover has a unique potential to search for evidence of past life on Mars thanks to its drill and laboratory. It will be the first rover to drill 2 m below the surface, and the first to use novel driving techniques, including wheel-walking, to overcome obstacles.

Although the 2022 launch window for the mission is no longer possible following the suspension of cooperation with Roscosmos, the mission’s System Qualification and Flight Acceptance Review took place as planned in March. The Review Board confirmed that the spacecraft would have been ready for the timely shipment to the launch site and the programme had a sufficient time margin for the original launch opportunity opening on 20 September 2022.

Due to the suspension of the 2022 launch, the Exomars elements are now being prepared for storage at a Thales Alenia Space site in Italy awaiting further instruction.

The Review Board members specifically expressed their appreciation and thanks to the review team for the exhaustive work performed over the past months.

Based on the decision by ESA Member States at its March Council meeting, a fast-track industrial study will now start to better define the available options for a way forward to implement the ExoMars rover mission in a future launch.

The teams will be looking for the earliest possible launch depending on how quickly technologies can be developed to support a European-led mission, or in collaboration with other international partners, and the availability of compatible launchers and launch site.

“I hope that our Member States will decide that this is not the end of ExoMars, but rather a rebirth of the mission, perhaps serving as a trigger to develop more European autonomy,” says David Parker, Director of Human and Robotic Exploration at ESA.

“We count on brilliant teams and expertise across Europe and with international partners to reshape and rebuild the mission. The team is dedicated and focused on setting out the next steps to ensure we bring this incredible rover to Mars to complete the job it was designed for.”

Meanwhile, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) continues to relay the majority of data from Mars, from NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers as well as its Insight lander. TGO has considerable fuel onboard meaning it could also support data relay from the ExoMars rover in the future as well the Mars Sample Return campaign.

 
Dmitry Rogozin twitter again around,
This time that Russian lander will be equipped with "Centaur" robot replacing the Exomars rover.
but he stated they need an investor “with money and scientific equipment”...
Let me see:
NASA nope
ESA nope
CNSA they have already successful rover on surface of Mars ! = Nope
UAESA they cooperate with JAXA = Nope
ISRO there busy putting first hindu in space, so no money for Exomars = Nope
KARI has South Korea join the boycott of Russia ?
NADA i don't think North Korea has money or instruments for that
SSA same for Syrians no money or instruments for that
ISA/NEHSA the Iranians has money but no instruments...


source:
View: https://twitter.com/katlinegrey/status/1508489339474530312
 
Redirecting ESA programmes in response to geopolitical crisis
Redirecting ESA programmes in response to geopolitical crisis

13 April 2022

Following the Russian aggression against Ukraine, ESA’s Director General has initiated a comprehensive review of all activities currently undertaken in cooperation with Russia and Ukraine. The objective is to determine the possible consequences of this new geopolitical context for ESA programmes and activities and to create a more resilient and robust space infrastructure for Europe.

The ESA Council on 13 April acknowledged the following findings and took the following decisions.

ESA will discontinue cooperative activities with Russia on Luna-25, -26 and -27. As with ExoMars, the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the resulting sanctions put in place represent a fundamental change of circumstances and make it impossible for ESA to implement the planned lunar cooperation. However, ESA’s science and technology for these missions remains of vital importance. A second flight opportunity has already been secured on board a NASA-led Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) mission for the PROSPECT lunar drill and volatile analysis package (originally planned for Luna-27). An alternative flight opportunity to test the ESA navigation camera known as PILOT-D (originally planned for Luna-25) is already being procured from a commercial service provider.

Meanwhile, a way forward for the PILOT precision landing and hazard avoidance technology is already being defined. This capability is needed for European Lunar exploration activities such as the European Large Logistic Lander (EL3), proposed for decision at CM22. Further, the ESA Director General and the President of the Japanese agency JAXA last week signed an agreement to fly ESA’s EMS-L, the Exospheric Mass Spectrometer instrument, on board the JAXA/ISRO LUPEX lunar rover mission. This adds to the growing list of European experiments flying to the Moon in the next few years.

Although all the elements of the ExoMars Rover mission (the launcher, carrier module, descent module and Rosalind Franklin rover) have now passed their flight readiness reviews, because cooperation with Roscosmos on ExoMars has been suspended, the mission will not be launched in September this year. Instead, a fast-track study is now under way led by Thales Alenia Space of Italy to assess options for the way forward.
 
The launch of the ExoMars rover has been pushed back again and is now NET 2028.


A key official for Europe’s ExoMars mission believes that the rover’s launch will be pushed back until at least 2028 to accommodate changes after ending cooperation with Russia.
I thought this was quite interesting from that article as far as cooperation with NASA is concerned on the mission.

Aschbacher said in an April 6 interview that ESA was working with NASA on potential cooperation with ExoMars while also looking at replacing Russian components of the mission with European alternatives. That will lead to a decision in July on a path forward for ExoMars, which would likely require additional funding that would be requested at ESA’s next ministerial meeting late this year.

A delay to 2028 would mean ExoMars would be launching at the same time as the two landers for the revised Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign that NASA and ESA are jointly conducting. ESA’s contributions include a rover that would go on one of the landers to pick up samples cached by Perseverance, placing them into a rocket on the other lander that would place the samples in Mars orbit to be picked up and returned to Earth by an ESA orbiter.

That’s led to some speculation in the Mars exploration community that the Rosalind Franklin rover could be repurposed to support the Mars Sample Return effort. Vago said he expected some kind of “quid pro quo” arrangement between NASA and ESA if NASA assisted ESA on ExoMars. That could mean, he said, to “look at both MSR and ExoMars in sort of a holistic way, if you like, and see if we can find solutions that work for both missions.”
 
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It looks like the biggest block to ExoMars actually ever going to Mars is that ESA has two big protects related to the planet it and Mars Sample Return, and it cannot fund both of them.
 
It looks like the biggest block to ExoMars actually ever going to Mars is that ESA has two big protects related to the planet it and Mars Sample Return, and it cannot fund both of them.

Good point, and surely enough the Russians were to pay part of the bill, for a launch in 2020.
Now that 2020 is gone and buried while the Russians have become foes again, the entire bill is to be bear by ESA alone...
 
It looks like the biggest block to ExoMars actually ever going to Mars is that ESA has two big protects related to the planet it and Mars Sample Return, and it cannot fund both of them.

Good point, and surely enough the Russians were to pay part of the bill, for a launch in 2020.
Now that 2020 is gone and buried while the Russians have become foes again, the entire bill is to be bear by ESA alone...
Also trying to somehow re-work the rover as the fetch rover for MSR would cost too much time and money, and might not even work.
 
Also trying to somehow re-work the rover as the fetch rover for MSR would cost too much time and money, and might not even work.

It would cost too much money to somehow rework the rover for the Mars Sample Return mission, and NASA would probably have an alternative in the works anyway.
 
Does the Exomars rover have a future, possibly not.

The other uncomfortable possibility, however, is that ESA may cut its losses and choose to cancel the mission. Aside from developing a new landing system and purchasing a new rocket launch, storing the rover in perfectly clean conditions for six years would require a significant investment. Even now engineers must constantly flush the rover with argon to ensure it is kept in the pristine condition needed to minimize the chances of contamination from Earth-based microbes. Some experts wonder if those resources might be better spent elsewhere. “Is it worth it?” Lee says. “Unless the NASA discussions with ESA are all about trying to bring ExoMars back in from the cold, I really don’t see it going forward anymore.” But David Southwood, former director of science and robotic exploration at ESA, says the agency should do all it can to get the rover to Mars. “That would be my highest priority on a wish list,” he says.

What is certain is that the fate of this rover, troubled for so long, is likely to drag on for months. That leaves scientists working on the mission unsure of what their future holds. “If ExoMars is never going to be launched, this is a waste of our time and effort,” Ciarletti says. “For almost 20 years, we have been working on an instrument [for the rover]. It’s absolutely disappointing.” For now, European scientists eager to see their first homegrown rover reach Mars can do little more than wait.
 
Does the Exomars rover have a future, possibly not.

The other uncomfortable possibility, however, is that ESA may cut its losses and choose to cancel the mission. Aside from developing a new landing system and purchasing a new rocket launch, storing the rover in perfectly clean conditions for six years would require a significant investment. Even now engineers must constantly flush the rover with argon to ensure it is kept in the pristine condition needed to minimize the chances of contamination from Earth-based microbes. Some experts wonder if those resources might be better spent elsewhere. “Is it worth it?” Lee says. “Unless the NASA discussions with ESA are all about trying to bring ExoMars back in from the cold, I really don’t see it going forward anymore.” But David Southwood, former director of science and robotic exploration at ESA, says the agency should do all it can to get the rover to Mars. “That would be my highest priority on a wish list,” he says.

What is certain is that the fate of this rover, troubled for so long, is likely to drag on for months. That leaves scientists working on the mission unsure of what their future holds. “If ExoMars is never going to be launched, this is a waste of our time and effort,” Ciarletti says. “For almost 20 years, we have been working on an instrument [for the rover]. It’s absolutely disappointing.” For now, European scientists eager to see their first homegrown rover reach Mars can do little more than wait.

ESA should put ExoMars on hold for now and concentrate on getting rid of all the russian technology and start again, then launch it towards the end of the decade or whenever Mars has its next closest approach to Earth.
 
Our Mars rover mission was suspended because of the Ukraine war: here’s what we’re hoping for next

Just a few months ago, we were confidently expecting to launch our rover, Rosalind Franklin, to Mars in September as part of the ExoMars mission, a collaboration between Europe and Russia. The landing was planned for June 2023. Everything was ready: the rover, the operations team, and the eager scientists.

 
What would have happened if the rocket has already launched and the probe is en route to Mars? Would the project still be terminated?
 
Would it be possible to launch it with a SpaceX rocket?
One of the smaller ones?
To get it into orbit or even touchdown on Mars? ( depends on what is needed..)
 
Would it be possible to launch it with a SpaceX rocket?
One of the smaller ones?
To get it into orbit or even touchdown on Mars? ( depends on what is needed..)

It depends on how heavy the rover is whether it is the Falcon 9 or the Falcon Heavy.
 
View: https://twitter.com/BBCAmos/status/1535993413094588417


There are discussions but they are about how to secure and return each other’s equipment. The Kazachok lander is in Italy and has to be returned to Russia, but first its European GNC components have to be removed. The “how” is what they’re talking about.

So how likely will it be that ExoMars will ever see the surface of Mars? At this time I don't think it will.
 
View: https://twitter.com/BBCAmos/status/1535993413094588417


There are discussions but they are about how to secure and return each other’s equipment. The Kazachok lander is in Italy and has to be returned to Russia, but first its European GNC components have to be removed. The “how” is what they’re talking about.

So how likely will it be that ExoMars will ever see the surface of Mars? At this time I don't think it will.
I fear you may well be correct.
 
"Administrator Bill Nelson has given us a clear message: NASA wants to help Europe in this situation," ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher told reporters on Wednesday at a news conference at the ILA Berlin Air Show trade fair.
 
"Administrator Bill Nelson has given us a clear message: NASA wants to help Europe in this situation," ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher told reporters on Wednesday at a news conference at the ILA Berlin Air Show trade fair.

A bit more positive news about ExoMars Flyaway, now that NASA looks like it will provide help to ESA for the rover.
 
View: https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1595419793431343105


Aschbacher: exploration budget includes funding for ISS operations, EL3 lunar cargo lander, and ExoMars. Expect NASA to contribute to ExoMars launcher, braking engine and RHUs (radioisotope heating units.)
View: https://twitter.com/bbcamos/status/1595402742016638976


Rosalind Franklin. Fully funded. €360m. To start work on a landing system. #CM23
 
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View: https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1595419793431343105


Aschbacher: exploration budget includes funding for ISS operations, EL3 lunar cargo lander, and ExoMars. Expect NASA to contribute to ExoMars launcher, braking engine and RHUs (radioisotope heating units.)
View: https://twitter.com/bbcamos/status/1595402742016638976


Rosalind Franklin. Fully funded. €360m. To start work on a landing system. #CM23

Good news, now get the rover to Mars.
 
View: https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1595419793431343105


Aschbacher: exploration budget includes funding for ISS operations, EL3 lunar cargo lander, and ExoMars. Expect NASA to contribute to ExoMars launcher, braking engine and RHUs (radioisotope heating units.)
View: https://twitter.com/bbcamos/status/1595402742016638976


Rosalind Franklin. Fully funded. €360m. To start work on a landing system. #CM23

Good news, now get the rover to Mars.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91dW9pUA1BI
 

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