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

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

"I, in turn, give a command to our crew on the ISS to stop working with the 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 their lives." 

The ERA is attached to the Russian side of the space station and is an extremely essential component of the 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 payloads, transfer of payloads in and out of the ISS, transporting crew members from one site to another and inspecting the station's exterior using its camera. 

(The European Robotic Arm; Image: ESA)

According to ESA, the arm measures 11.3 meters in length, has a reach of 9.7 meters, and is capable of handling 8,000 kg of payload. In his Telegram post, Rogozin wrote that Aschbacher has "crossed out" thousands of scientists and engineers in both Europe and Russia by terminating the joint mission. The 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, the mission was in its second phase. The first phase involved sending the European-made Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and the Schiaparelli landing demonstrator module, which landed on the red planet in October 2016. Notably, the mission faced multiple delays-- from 2018 to 2020 to 2022-- before being terminated. According to TASS news, Europe had planned to launch the mission using the Proton-M carrier rocket from Russia's Baikonur spaceport. 

ESA terminates ExoMars mission

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

Following the announcement, Rogozin slammed the European and American governments for "supplying the junta in Kyiv with deadly 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.