European Space Agency Stops Cooperation with Russian Lunar Missions

European Space Agency Stops Cooperation with Russian Lunar Missions
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European Space Agency Stops Cooperation with Russian Lunar Missions

European Space Agency Stops Cooperation with Russian Lunar Missions

The European Space Agency on Wednesday ended cooperation with Russia on three missions to the Moon due to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, following a previous decision to do the same for a Mars mission.

The ESA said it would "discontinue cooperative activities" on Luna-25, 26 and 27, a series of Russian lunar missions on which the European agency had aimed to test new equipment and technology, AFP said.

In late March, collaboration on ExoMars, a plan to land a rover on Mars to drill into the soil and search for signs of life, was suspended as well.

"As with ExoMars, the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the resulting sanctions put in place represent a fundamental change of circumstances and make it impossible for ESA to implement the planned lunar cooperation," the ESA said in a statement.

The ESA had planned to have a navigation camera called Pilot-D on the Luna-25 probe, whose launch is scheduled for this summer.

ESA Director-General Josef Aschbacher told a press briefing the camera was going to be dismantled and taken off the launch, and that Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, had already been informed.

The ESA is looking for other options and partners to test the technology that would have formed part of the Russian missions, it said, adding some had already been found.

An alternative mission for Pilot-D "is already being procured from a commercial service provider", the agency said.

Equipment including a lunar drill originally planned for Luna-27 will now be launched on a NASA-led mission instead.

A study on new options for the ExoMars components was being fast-tracked as well, the ESA said.

That mission had been supposed to launch in September.



Danish PM Tells Trump It Is up to Greenland to Decide on Independence

Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen attends the Baltic Sea NATO Allies Summit in Helsinki, Finland, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen attends the Baltic Sea NATO Allies Summit in Helsinki, Finland, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
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Danish PM Tells Trump It Is up to Greenland to Decide on Independence

Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen attends the Baltic Sea NATO Allies Summit in Helsinki, Finland, 14 January 2025. (EPA)
Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen attends the Baltic Sea NATO Allies Summit in Helsinki, Finland, 14 January 2025. (EPA)

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Wednesday she had spoken on the phone with US President-elect Donald Trump and told him that it is up to Greenland itself to decide on any independence.

Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, said last week that US control of Greenland was an "absolute necessity" and did not rule out using military or economic action such as tariffs against Denmark to make it happen.

"In the conversation, the prime minister referred to the statements of the Chairman of the Greenlandic Parliament, Mute B. Egede, that Greenland is not for sale," Frederiksen's office said in a statement.

"The prime minister emphasized that it is up to Greenland itself to make a decision on independence," the statement said.

Frederiksen also stressed the importance of strengthening security in the Arctic and that Denmark was open to taking a greater responsibility, it added.