A joint European and Russian
mission to Mars is being postponed
from July until sometime in 2022, as the coronavirus pandemic is preventing
scientists from resolving a few technical difficulties, the European Space
Agency said March 12.
“We cannot fly in 2020,” ESA
director general Jan Wörner
says. “This is a disappointment for me personally, and for the teams working.
But it’s better safe than sorry.”
The ExoMars rover’s team had
already been considering a delay to solve problems with the rover’s landing gear
before the virus outbreak emerged. The parachute that will slow the rover’s
descent through the thin Martian atmosphere developed tears in earlier tests. A
new design will be tested in the next weeks or months, Wörner says.
Other issues with the
descent module’s electronic equipment meant components have been sent back to
Russia for repairs, he says. And more tests needed to get the rover ready for
launch require team members to travel between Italy, France and Moscow — impossible for now amid new travel restrictions
imposed in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus (SN: 3/11/20).