On March 18, according to foreign media reports, on Thursday, local time, the European Space Agency announced that it would suspend its cooperation with Russia in the space field, and the Mars rover ExoMars mission in cooperation with the Russian space agency would not be launched this year < p > < / P > < p > on the same day, representatives of 22 member states of the European Space Agency announced the above decision after a two-day meeting. In response to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, these member states have imposed economic sanctions on Russia. Germany, the largest contributor to the ESA budget, suspended all scientific cooperation with Russia in late February < p > the decision of the European Space Agency on Thursday was a major blow to the ExoMars mission, which has been postponed since 2018 due to parachute problems. According to the plan, ExoMars will be launched by Russian launch vehicle proton in September this year. European Space Agency officials said they were assessing the potential progress of the mission because it would not be launched by a Russian rocket < p > European Space Agency Director Joseph aschbacher said on Twitter: "in the past two days, our member states have discussed the impact of the Ukrainian conflict on the European Space Agency's space program. We have jointly made a difficult but necessary decision to suspend cooperation with the Russian space agency, including ExoMars, which is scheduled to launch in September, and study the future development direction." < p > David Parker, head of human and robotic exploration at the European Space Agency, said: "this is a great disappointment to the people involved in the project. They have invested many years in this mission. It is also a painful decision for the European Space Agency." < p > ExoMars is named after Rosalind Franklin, a British chemist whose contribution is to help decipher the structure of DNA. ExoMars aims to look for signs of life under the Martian atmosphere and surface, but the mission has been in trouble for years < p > the European Space Agency's initial vision was to cooperate with NASA, but NASA withdrew from the project after the government of then President Barack Obama cut the budget, and the mission was almost cancelled in 2012. The Russian space agency then stepped in to help fill the loopholes left by NASA's departure < p > the Russian space agency has developed a landing platform for the ExoMars Rover and plans to launch the mission with a proton rocket at the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan. The launch was originally scheduled for 2018, then postponed to 2020 due to parachute problems, and then postponed to late September 2022 < p > the European Space Agency said in a statement: "The European Space Agency's Governing Council met in Paris from March 16 to 17 to assess the impact of the conflict in Ukraine on the ExoMars mission and agreed that it was impossible to cooperate with the Russian space agency on the launch of the Mars Rover Mission in 2022. Member States authorized the director of the European Space Agency to take appropriate measures, suspend corresponding cooperative activities and carry out rapid industrial research in order to better determine the future implementation of the ExoMars mission Available options. " < p > ExoMars' new plan will not only replace Russian rockets, but also replace the landing platform, Russian instruments and radioisotope heating devices included in the rover itself. "What we really need to do is study these options and choose whether Europe acts alone or in cooperation with other partners," ashbach said Ashbach also said that one option is to resume cooperation with NASA. "We will consider working with NASA, which has expressed very strong support," he said < p > Parker believes that if cooperation with the Russian space agency is resumed, the launch in 2024 is still feasible. "A more radical restructuring will lead to a launch in 2026, when there are two launch opportunities, or in 2028," he said < p > but when talking about the revised launch date, ashbach said: "to be honest, this will not be achieved before 2026. There are too many challenges. I sympathize with those who have worked on this project for decades and can understand the frustration of people in engineering and science. But I want to say that even if we launch later, this rover will achieve amazing scientific results." < p > it is unclear whether the Russian built landing platform can still be used for this mission, and whether any hardware needs to be rebuilt, which will bring additional costs to the European Space Agency < p > in response to the sanctions, Russia had previously terminated cooperation with the European Space Port in French Guiana. Since 2011, European launch supplier Arianespace has been using Russian Soyuz rockets as a supplement to its heavy Ariane 5 and light Vega rockets < p > the European Space Agency said in a statement that it is now evaluating alternative launch options previously planned to use Soyuz for four missions. However, Europe and Russia still maintain active cooperation on the international space station. "The international space station program will continue to operate, with the main objective of maintaining the safe operation of the international space station, including ensuring the safety of the crew," the European Space Agency said in a statement < p > European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer is currently working with Russian astronauts Anton shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, as well as NASA astronauts Kayla Barron, Raja Chari Mark Vande hei and Thomas marshburn are Co located at this orbital outpost. (small) < / P > < p >