The European Space Agency will not be working with Russia

The Agency will look towards help from NASA in a future mission

CNN) -- The European Space Agency may seek closer ties with NASA on its upcoming missions, especially the ExoMars rover, after it became clear ESA needed "to sever" its ties with Russia, the agency's director general, Josef Aschbacher, said.

"Certainly one option which we are studying, there's no decision made yet, but one option we are studying is also working closer with NASA," Aschbacher told Becky Anderson on CNN's Connect the World on Friday.

The ESA suspended its mission to launch Europe's first planetary rover, aimed at searching for signs of life and investigating the history of water on Mars, last Thursday.

The rover, known as both ExoMars and Rosalind Franklin in honor of the English chemist and DNA pioneer, was designed by ESA and Roscosmos, Russia's space agency. The mission was due to launch in September this year, but ESA's member states voted to suspend the project, despite its late stage after 40 years of development.