Instead, the agency He turned to Russia to launch the orbiter and rover on two Proton rockets and provide a landing system to deliver the rover to Mars. In return, ESA agreed to add Russian scientific instruments to its orbiter and rover missions. This was a boon for Russian scientific institutions. Without an international partnership like ExoMars, they had no realistic prospect of sending their research payloads to the red planet.
Russia started successfully The European-built ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft launched in 2016 on a Proton rocket. The orbiter continues to orbit Mars today, returning scientific data and serving as a communications relay for NASA’s Curiosity and Endurance rovers. A small European technology demo probe rides a shovel in orbit crash landed when we reach the red planet.
Artist’s rendering of the Rosalind Franklin rover emerging from the Mars landing platform.
Credit: Airbus
Artist’s rendering of the Rosalind Franklin rover emerging from the Mars landing platform.
Credit: Airbus
Additional delays pushed the launch of the ExoMars rover from 2018 to 2020. At the time, the rover, named after the late British chemist and DNA research pioneer Rosalind Franklin, was almost ready for a 2020 launch. parachute test failures and the COVID-19 pandemic caused another delay until late 2022.
Everything changed again when Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022. ESA severed most of its ties with the Russian space agency, ending its partnership in ExoMars after all elements of the mission, including the Russian rocket and Mars landing stage, were already built and ready for final assembly. ESA also ejected two Russian science instruments from the mission.
Once again, the The US government intervened to give Rosalind Franklin rover journey to mars. NASA and ESA formalized a new deal in 2024, with the U.S. committing to provide the launch vehicle, brake motors needed to land, and small nuclear-powered heaters to keep the rover’s sensitive electronics warm during Martian nights. NASA has long since introduced a mass spectrometer for the Europa rover that will analyze Martian soil to look for markers of organic molecules.
ESA is providing a rover and a launch vehicle to send it to Mars. Europa is also responsible for the overall assembly of the landing platform and the control of the rover on the Martian surface. Airbus built the rover in the United Kingdom and is providing the main structure of the lander that will sit on Mars and place the ramps for the rover to land and begin its mission. The German company OHB manufactured the carrier spacecraft, or cruise stage, to carry the rover from Earth to Mars. Italy’s Thales Alenia Space is responsible for putting all the pieces together and preparing the mission for flight.
