Instead, the agency turned to Russia to launch the orbiter and rover on two Proton rockets and provide the descent system to deliver the rover to Mars. In return, ESA agreed to add Russian science instruments to the orbiter and rover missions. This was a boon for Russian scientific institutions. Without international partnerships like ExoMars, they had no realistic chance of sending their own research payloads to the Red Planet.
Russia successfully launched the European-made ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft on a Proton rocket in 2016. The orbiter is still operating around Mars today, returning scientific data and serving as a communications relay for NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. A small European technology demo probe piggybacked on the orbiter crash lands on the Red Planet.
Artist’s depiction of the Rosalind Franklin rover departing from its landing platform on Mars.
Credit: Airbus
Artist’s depiction of the Rosalind Franklin rover departing from its landing platform on Mars.
Credit: Airbus
Additional delays pushed the launch of the ExoMars rover from 2018 to 2020. The rover, by 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 to late 2022.
Everything changed again in February 2022 when Russian forces invaded Ukraine. ESA severed most ties with Russia’s space agency, ending the partnership on ExoMars after all elements of the mission, including the Russian rocket and Mars descent stage, were already manufactured and ready for final assembly. ESA also removed two Russian science instruments from the mission.
Once again, the US government stepped up to provide Rosalind Franklin Go on a trip to Mars. NASA and ESA formalized the new agreement in 2024, with the U.S. side committing to provide a launch vehicle, the braking engine needed for landing, and small nuclear-powered heaters to keep the rover’s sensitive electronics warm during Martian nights. NASA long ago delivered a mass spectrometer to the European rover that will analyze Martian soil to look for markers of organic molecules.
ESA is providing the rover and carrier spacecraft to take it to Mars. Europe is also responsible for the overall assembly of the landing platform and operation of the rover on the surface of Mars. Airbus built the rover in the United Kingdom and is supplying the main structure for the lander, which will land on Mars and deploy ramps for the rover to land and begin its mission. The German company OHB built the carrier spacecraft, or cruise stage, to carry 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.
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