Roscosmos Says ExoMars Mission Launch Delay Unrelated To Issues With Proton Rocket

The decision to postpone to 2022 the launch of the ExoMars 2020 mission was not made because of technical issues with the Proton-M carrier rocket, the Russian State Space Agency Roscosmos told Sputnik on Saturday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th March, 2020) The decision to postpone to 2022 the launch of the ExoMars 2020 mission was not made because of technical issues with the Proton-M carrier rocket, the Russian State Space Agency Roscosmos told Sputnik on Saturday.

Media reports have recently alleged that the decision to postpone the ExoMars 2020 mission launch was associated with poor-quality components of the Proton-M.

"The poor-quality components identified on the Proton-M carrier rocket, designed to launch the Express spacecraft, did not influence the decision to postpone the ExoMars mission. The ESA [European Space Agency] and Roscosmos did not take this into account because it had nothing to do with the decision to postpone the mission," Roscosmos said.

According to Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin, the decision was motivated by the need to maximize the robustness of all ExoMars systems and the coronavirus pandemic in Europe.