Dmitry Rogozin orders Russian cosmonauts to stop using Europe's robotic arm aboard ISS

Russian cosmonauts have been ordered to stop using European Space Agency’s (ESA) European Robotic Arm (ERA) installed aboard International Space Station. order was issued by Russian space agency, Roscosmos' Director General Dmitry Rogozin in retaliation to ESA's announcement of terminating ExoMars mission. announcement was me on July 12 by ESA Chief Josef Aschbacher on Twitter. 

"I, in turn, give a command to our crew on ISS to stop working with European ERA manipulator," Rogozin wrote on his Telegram channel. "Let Aschbacher himself and his boss Borrell fly into space and do at least something useful in ir lives." 

ERA is attached to Russian side of space station and is an extremely essential component of orbiting laboratory. Much like a human arm, it has a 'shoulder', 'elbow', and 'wrists' and it serves multiple tasks such as installing, removing or replacing experiment paylos, transfer of paylos in and out of ISS, transporting crew members from one site to anor and inspecting station's exterior using its camera. 

( European Robotic Arm; Image: ESA)

According to ESA, arm measures 11.3 meters in length, has a reach of 9.7 meters, and is capable of handling 8,000 kg of paylo. In his Telegram post, Rogozin wrote that Aschbacher has "crossed out" thousands of scientists and engineers in both Europe and Russia by terminating joint mission. ExoMars was being developed by ESA and Roscosmos to send a Russian landing platform 'Kazachok' and a European rover Rosalind Franklin to Mars. 

Previously scheduled for launch this September, mission was in its second phase. first phase involved sending European-me Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and  Schiaparelli landing demonstrator module, which landed on red planet in October 2016. Notably, mission faced multiple delays-- from 2018 to 2020 to 2022-- before being terminated. According to TASS news, Europe h planned to launch mission using  Proton-M carrier rocket from Russia's Baikonur spaceport. 

ESA terminates ExoMars mission

official announcement was me by ESA he Aschbacher after a council meeting. Taking to Twitter, he wrote, "As a consequence (of Ukraine war), Council mandated me to officially terminate currently suspended cooperation with Roscosmos on ExoMars Rover and Surface Platform mission."

Following announcement, Rogozin slammed European and American governments for "supplying junta in Kyiv with dely weapons" and accused Aschbacher of "sabotaging a joint Martian mission." Rogozin even wrote that Russia will make every effort to bring back its 'Kazachok' landing module which is currently in Italy.