Instead, the agency turned to Russia launch the orbiter and rover on two Proton rockets and provide the descent system to take the rover to Mars. In exchange, ESA agreed to add Russian scientific instruments to the orbiter and rover missions. This was a great help to Russian scientific institutions. Without an international partnership like ExoMars, they had no realistic prospects of ever sending their own research payloads to the red planet.
Russia successfully launched the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft built in Europe on a Proton rocket in 2016. The orbiter still operates around Mars today, providing scientific data and serving as a communications relay for NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. A small European technology demonstration probe mounted on the orbiter forced landing upon reaching the red planet.
Artist’s illustration of the Rosalind Franklin rover leaving its landing pad on Mars.
Credit: Airbus
Artist’s illustration of the Rosalind Franklin rover leaving its landing pad on Mars.
Credit: Airbus
Further delays pushed the launch of the ExoMars rover from 2018 to 2020. The rover, then named after the late British chemist and DNA research pioneer Rosalind Franklin, was almost ready for launch in 2020 when a series of parachute test failures and the COVID-19 pandemic caused another delay until the end of 2022.
Everything changed again when Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022. ESA severed most ties with the Russian space agency, ending the partnership on ExoMars after all elements of the mission, including the Russian rocket and the Mars descent stage, were already built and ready for final assembly. ESA also removed two Russian scientific instruments from the mission.
Once again, the The United States government intervened to give the Rosalind Franklin Rover a trip to Mars. NASA and ESA formalized the new agreement in 2024, with the U.S. side pledging to provide a launch vehicle, the braking motors needed for landing, and small nuclear-powered heaters to keep the rover’s sensitive electronics warm during the Martian nights. NASA long ago delivered a mass spectrometer for the European rover that will analyze Martian soil for markers of organic molecules.
ESA will provide the rover and the spacecraft to transport it to Mars. Europa is also responsible for the overall assembly of the landing platform and the operation of the rover on the Martian surface. Airbus built the rover in the UK and is supplying the main structure of the lander, which will land on Mars and deploy ramps for the rover to disembark and begin its mission. German company OHB manufactured the carrier spacecraft, or cruise stage, to guide the rover from Earth to Mars. Italy’s Thales Alenia Space is in charge of putting all the pieces together and preparing the mission for launch.
