The European Space Agency cuts ties with Russia on its Mars mission.
The European Space Agency is formally ending its partnership with Russia on a rover mission to explore the surface of Mars, the agency’s chief said on Tuesday, citing Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

ESA, an intergovernmental organization with 22 member nations, paused cooperation with Roscosmos, Russia’s state space agency, in March to comply with Western sanctions, after ESA’s leadership council agreed unanimously on the “impossibility” of continuing to work together under the circumstances.

As an intergovernmental organization whose mandate was to develop and implement space programs “in full respect with European values,” the agency said in a news release at the time, “we deeply deplore the human casualties and tragic consequences of the aggression towards Ukraine.”