Russia's space agency Roscosmos and the European Space Agency have decided to postpone the launch of a joint research mission to Mars until autumn 2022 because of the situation around coronavirus in Europe, Roscosmos said on Thursday.

"...The parties had to recognize that the final phase of ExoMars activities is compromised by the general aggravation of the epidemiological situation in European countries," the Russian agency said in a statement.

"We have made a difficult but well-weighed decision to postpone the launch to 2022," said Roscosmos director general Dmitry Rogozin.

The mission has been repeatedly postponed and was most recently scheduled for this year.