Coronavirus Pandemic Grounds Mars Rover Launch
The European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia’s Roscosmos Space Corporation announced last Thursday, 12 March, that they will be postponing the launch of the second ExoMars mission until 2022.
Roscosmos Director General, Gmitry Rogozin, released a statement explaining that the launch would be delayed until some time between August and October this year, due to the Coronavirus outbreak resulting in the current strict travel constraints in Europe, which prevent experts from travelling to partner industries.
ESA Director General, Jan Worner, shared Rogozin’s sentiments of ensuring the highest chance of a successful assignment. He mentioned that the flight hardware and all nine instruments recently passed thermal and vacuum tests.
The spacecraft has endured several delays, including a failed landing parachute test last year.
The joint mission is expected to launch a probe – named “Rosalind Franklin”, after a pioneering former English chemist – that will search the red celestial body for past evidence of life and “provide further insights into the planet’s history of water”.
The venture would also be a precursor to a human mission to Mars.
