NASA and ESA Collaborate on ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover

NASA and ESA Collaborate on ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover

by Clarence Oxford

Los Angeles CA (SPX) May 20, 2024

NASA and ESA announced they signed an agreement to expand NASA’s work on the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover, an ESA-led mission launching in 2028 to search for signs of ancient life on Mars.

With this memorandum of understanding, NASA’s Launch Services Program will secure a U.S. commercial launch provider for the Rosalind Franklin rover. NASA will also supply heater units and elements of the propulsion system needed to land on Mars. A new instrument on the rover will be the first to drill up to 6.5 feet (2 meters) below the surface to collect ice samples protected from surface radiation and extreme temperatures.

“The Rosalind Franklin rover’s unique drilling capabilities and onboard samples laboratory have outstanding scientific value for humanity’s search for evidence of past life on Mars,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “NASA supports the Rosalind Franklin mission to continue the strong partnership between the United States and Europe to explore the unknown in our solar system and beyond.”

Through an existing partnership with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales), NASA is contributing key components to the Rosalind Franklin rover’s primary science instrument, the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer, which will search for the building blocks of life in the soil samples.

NASA has a longstanding partnership with the Department of Energy to use radioisotope power sources on the agency’s space missions and will be partnering again with the Energy Department for the use of lightweight radioisotope heater units for the rover.

The Rosalind Franklin rover mission complements the Mars Sample Return multi-mission campaign led by both agencies.