The European Space Agency’s long-delayed Rosalind Franklin rover has received a boost with confirmation that NASA is staying in the project.
During Director General Josef Achbacher’s speech at the agency’s Ministerial meeting, where funding is debated and projects proposed and selected, he said [PDF]: “Just yesterday, I received very good news from NASA to confirm their contribution to the Rosalind Franklin Mission.”
Among other things, the mission calls for a rover to be sent to Mars and drill up to two meters in search of underground biomarkers. Thanks to proposed cuts to NASA’s budget, the US space agency’s participation could have been scaled back or cut altogether.
An ESA insider described the ExoMars project as “snakebit.” The project initially had NASA as a partner, but the US space agency walked away after budget cuts. This left the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, to plug the gap and provide a launcher and lander for the rover. A 2018 launch was delayed due to technical problems with the hardware, and another attempt in 2020 was also called off after issues cropped up with the parachutes. In 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, and ESA halted cooperation, keeping the trundlebot firmly on Earth.
For a while, it looked like ESA might finally throw in the towel on the project. The rover was complete, but needed a new ride and lander for its trip to Mars. In 2024, a deal was signed to replace the missing components, including NASA contributions such as radioisotope heater units (RHUs) for the rover, throttleable braking engines for the lander, and launch services.
With a 2028 launch date in place, the project finally appeared stable. That changed when the new US administration proposed significant reductions to NASA’s budget.
While NASA’s budget proposal hasn’t yet been approved, ESA’s Director General says the agency’s contribution is still going ahead – meaning the ExoMars Rover might finally be headed to the red planet. ®