European Space Agency will not work with Russia on Moon Missions

On Wednesday, the European Space Agency announced that following the Russian invasion of Russia, it will stop working with Russia on moon missions. In a statement, ESA said: "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 programs and activities and to create a more resilient and robust space infrastructure for Europe." They further elaborated that "ESA's science and technology for these missions remains of vital importance" and they are planning toward finding different alternatives to continue these missions using other machines.

The European Space agency further informed that missions Luna-25 and Luna-27 have already been discontinued and that the alternative plans are already underway. The ExoMars Rover mission which was scheduled for launch in the month of December has been suspended. The ESA further told that the Russian aggression against Ukraine and followed sanctions "represent a fundamental change of circumstances and make it impossible for ESA to implement the planned lunar cooperation." The ESA commented, "Instead, a fast-track study is now under way led by Thales Alenia Space of Italy to assess options for the way forward.”