The European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos are currently discussing future cooperation between two agencies on ExoMars and the Moon exploration projects. According to the Roscosmos press office, a meeting was recently held between ESA CEO Johann-Dietrich Woerner and Roscosmos CEO Igor Komarov at the ESA’s Research and Technology Center in Noordwijk (the Netherlands) where top executives discussed how two space agencies can further cooperate with each other on ExoMars and Moon exploration missions.

The ExoMars 2020 mission is the first joint project between Roscosmos and the ESA.

“The heads of the space agencies and the delegations’ specialists discussed the stratus and the prospects of bilateral cooperation in the ExoMars project, the Moon exploration, the program of interaction at the International Space Station (ISS) and the Deep Space Gateway (DSG),” Roscosmos said.

Regarding the ExoMars-2020 project, both sides discussed various issued related to the project and how they can find solutions in the near term. They also highlighted the significance of the ExoMars project as one of the starting points of future cooperation between two agencies.

Cooperation in the Moon exploration was also discussed. The ESA is now preparing a schedule of its work under the Russian lunar program, according to Russian news agency Tass.

ExoMars Project

The first phase of the ExoMars mission was launched in 2016 through a Russian four-stage Proton-M/Breeze-M launch vehicle. The launch was done from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in March 2016. In the first phase of the mission, the ESA sent a TGO (Trace Gas Orbiter) apparatus and Schiaparelli (a demonstrator landing module) to the Red Planet. TGO was designed to study methane and other gases present in the atmosphere of Mars. ESA believed a better understanding of these gases could provide an evidence for possible geological or biological activity on the Red Planet.

The Schiaparelli landing demonstrator vehicle failed to make a soft landing on the Martian surface and crashed.

The ESA is now planning to launch the second phase of the ExoMars mission in 2020. In this stage, a Russian landing module and a European rover will be sent to the Red Planet. ESA will focus on exobiology and geochemistry research in this phase.

To ensure uninterrupted cooperation between the ESA and Roscosmos, the European Union announced last month that it is exempting the hydrazine fuel for ExoMars mission from anti-Russian sanctions.

“On November 30, 2017, the Council adopted Decision (CFSP) 2017/2214 in order to permit certain operations concerning hydrazine (CAS 302-01-2) in concentrations of 70 % or more, which is included in the Common Military List of the European Union,” the Council of the European Union’s regulation in the Official Journal of the European Union stated at that time.

The sanctions on Russia were introduced under the 2015 amendment order over events in Ukraine.

In an interview with Sputnik News in April this year, ESA Director-General Jan Woerner said that the ESA was prepared to widen its cooperation with Roscosmos.