UK Mars rover is casualty of war as science severs its links with Russia

It has taken 15 years to build. Fears are mounting that the British-built robot rover may never make it to the red planet.

The launch of the craft on a giant Russian rocket was put off last month because of the invasion of Ukraine.

When the next window for sending a spaceship to Mars opens, the rover will have to wait two more years. The rover is named after a British geneticist, but some people fear that the prospects are not good. Scientists warn that it could be stopped if delays continue.

Professor John Zarnecki of the Open University said that it was impossible to work with Russia under the present circumstances. Its technology will be getting old by then.

It would be better to find another launcher. Other problems are posed by such a move. A huge parachute would have slowed the craft as it descended through the Martian atmosphere. The retro rockets would have slowed it down so the rover could land.

It is an extremely tricky, complex maneuver and designing a replacement landing system will not be easy.

The key feature of this mission is that it will bring soil samples from depths of two metres.

Several dozen planetary scientists in Britain have been involved in work on ExoMars.

She told the Observer that it was a weird experience for all of them.

Some scientists are optimistic that Europe and Russia will work in space again.

If the mission is delayed until the end of the decade, it will all start to look old.

Russia will stop cooperation with the International Space Station.

In the end, we may have to cut our losses and concentrate on other Mars missions.

The invasion of Ukraine is likely to result in the deaths of many people. Russian rockets have been used to launch European missions in the past. The suspension of future launches will include two Galileo navigation satellites, as well as the EarthCare science mission, which was developed in cooperation with the Japanese space agency.

The impact on the International Space Station, which relies on a Russian system to boost away from Earth as it decays and to move it to avoid space debris, is more puzzling. If Russia pulls out of the International Space Station, it will spiral lower and lower until it crashes.

The head of the Russian space agency made a threat recently. He told the country's state news agency, Tass, that Russia would determine how long the International Space Station will stay open.