Mars farther and farther away for Europe and above all for Italy. We are not talking about astronomy, but about the consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian war: the sanctions imposed on Russia led to the immediate cessation of collaboration in the space field between the Russian Roscomos Agency and the European ESA and also between the individual member states, including our. Among the many experiments suspended, or completely eliminated, certainly the excellent victim is Exomars 2022, Esa’s ambitious Martian mission that should bring to the red planet a sophisticated rover for the physico-chemical analysis of the soil of that planet. Except that, already two years late on the schedule, it will not start now except, perhaps, at the end of the decade, to the benefit of the US and China.
Exomars, a troubled and costly affair for Italy
In fact, the second part of this complex and expensive European mission was due to start in September, 1300 million euros, of which almost half paid by our country, which was its main supporter. A first part took place in 2016 and the outcome was not 100% positive, since the mother satellite that was to remain around the red planet had gone into orbit perfectly, and is still there, while the part that was supposed to reach the ground to carry out measurements for a few tens of minutes had a violent impact and was immediately lost. The second part, Exomars 2022, was to bring the European rover to Martian soil, dedicated to Rosalind Franklin, a British chemist whose work was fundamental for the study of DNA. It is a real self-propelled laboratory with also a very precious and sophisticated drill, of Italian design and manufacture, capable of reaching a depth of two meters, where no one has so far managed to go.
However, Europe, which started with the project many years ago, found itself, after the partial failure of 2016, completely broken down due to the blocking of collaborations with Russia, which, incidentally, fortunately did not touch the International Space Station.
The explanation is simple: the rover was supposed to carry a Proton rocket, Russian, departure set for September of this year to Mars, but the contribution of Roscosmos went further. In fact, the platform on which the Rosalind Franklin rover was to be housed on the journey to Mars and then on the descent to the ground is Russian and the whole, platform plus rover, was expected to be braked on the descent, in fact the dangerous part of the mission. , from a special Russian supersonic parachute. He is now responsible for the shift from 2020 to this year, as it required further development time, and finally Russia also supplied us with a plutonium battery to supply energy and heat.
The two-year interval is due to the mutual position between Earth and Mars, which move away from each other up to 200 million kilometers and then arrive at the point of maximum proximity, 50 million kilometers, good for planning the journey.