NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have agreed to expand NASA’s work on the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover, an ESA-led mission launching in 2028 that will search for former signs of life on Mars.
The memorandum of understanding, signed on May 16, 2024, will see the NASA Launch Services Program procure a US launch provider for the rover. NASA will also provide heater units and certain propulsion system elements needed to land on Mars. An instrument on the rover will drill up to two metres below the surface to collect ice samples long 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 NASA’s Nicola Fox.
Through an existing, separate 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, that 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 partner again with the Energy Department to use lightweight radioisotope heater units for the rover.
The Rosalind Franklin rover mission complements the Mars Sample Return multi-mission campaign led by both agencies.
