ESA releases Russia for its return to the Moon


The European Space Agency is withdrawing from Luna, the Russian program to return to the Moon with landers.

Russia’s invasion war in Ukraine continues to strain relations between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos. This time, it is the lunar cooperation which becomes an indirect victim of the conflict in Europe, since the member countries of the ESA announced on April 13 to suspend the partnership with Moscow on the Luna missions.

ESA suspends activities conducted in cooperation with Russia under the Luna-25, Luna-26 and Luna-27 missions. […] The Russian aggression towards Ukraine and the resulting sanctions constitute a fundamental change of circumstances and make it impossible for ESA to carry out the planned cooperation for the purposes of lunar exploration. “, acts the agency.

Luna 25 // Source: Roscosmos

This is the first time that the ESA has settled the Luna mission file so directly, even if it was suspected that participation in Russian lunar landers was now impossible. The agency had already indicated that all joint operations with Roscosmos were stopped, except for the management of the International Space Station (ISS).

Thus, at the end of February, Russia decided to stop launching Soyuz rockets from Guyana. Then, it was around the ExoMars 2022 mission to be in the hot seat. The project to send a rover to Mars is now on hold, while the rover is technically ready. Unfortunately, there is no longer a suitable rocket to carry out the launch in time.

The Luna program will continue. China as an alternative?

The withdrawal, for an indefinite period, of the ESA from the Luna program should slightly disrupt Moscow’s plans, but without jeopardizing their execution. Luna-25 is the most exposed mission, given the calendar constraints: Roscosmos wishes to proceed with the launch in August 2022, after already several postponements.

It is Roscosmos which makes the bulk of the contribution to the Luna missions, since this program is historically attached to the Soviet space conquest. The latest mission to date, Luna-24, dates back to 1976, more than forty-five years ago. At the time, Luna-25, an unmanned mission, was intended to conduct a sample return. It was a success.

Roscosmos CNSA
Russia and China have greatly strengthened their ties in space. // Source : Roscosmos

The Luna program, which was born in the late 1950s, has had a more eventful history, marked by numerous failures: 29 failures out of 44 attempts have been recorded (crash on the lunar surface, failure, bad orbit, missed shot , etc.) Missions were duplicated, such as Luna 3, Luna 3A, Luna 3B, which explains the discrepancy between the number of tries and the official numbering.

The Luna-25, 26, 27 and following missions are in fact an event for the Russian space program, as they mark the return of the country to the forefront, among the nations that matter in the conquest of space. In any case, this is the feeling that can be found in Russia. But the country’s military adventurism in Ukraine tarnishes this picture.

ESA’s contribution to Luna is apparently minor compared to all that Roscosmos takes on – the construction of landers, the provision of launch bases, the use of Russian rockets. But the European contribution is not negligible, whether scientific instruments or navigation tools.

After Luna-25 in 2022, Luna-26 and Luna-27 are planned for 2024 and 2025. These more distant deadlines should allow Roscosmos to stabilize any disturbance caused by the separation with the European Space Agency. And perhaps find a fallback solution on the side of China: the two countries have forged very strong ties to work together on the Moon.

For further

Source: Esa

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