Rosalind Franklin, previously known as the ExoMars rover, is a planned European robotic Mars rover, part of the international astrobiology programme ExoMars led by the European Space Agency (ESA). The rover is named after Rosalind Franklin, a British chemist and DNA research pioneer. Rosalind Franklin will be the first Mars rover to drill into a depth of up to two metres below the planet's surface. The rover was designed to search for biomolecules or biosignatures from past life. Its core task is to determine whether life ever existed on Mars, or still does today. As of 2026, Rosalind Franklin is expected to launch in 2028 on a Falcon Heavy rocket. The rover, together with the Airbus-built landing platform EDLM, will travel to Mars inside the Descent Module, connected to the Carrier Module. The Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), launched in 2016, will operate as the data-relay satellite of Rosalind Franklin.
History
Overview In mid-2010s, the mission was scheduled to launch in early 2020s in cooperation with the Russian Roscosmos. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 caused a delay of the programme, as the member states of ESA voted to terminate the cooperation. In 2024, the project received additional funding to restart and complete the mission with launch scheduled for 2028 using a NASA-procured US launch vehicle and a new European landing platform. The landing is expected in 2030.
Origins The rover was proposed in 2001 as part of ESA's Aurora Programme based on the astrobiology community's advice published in a 1999 document called the "Red Book". It was originally conceived as a 120-kg rover with a 10-kg science payload, launched in 2009 by a Soyuz-2-1b rocket from Kourou. The Ariane 5 and Proton rockets were also considered after the project was broadened in scope in mid-2000s. In 2009, ESA reached an agreement with NASA to launch the mission in 2018 together with NASA's MAX-C rover using a US launch vehicle of the Atlas family. However, MAX-C was cancelled in April 2011 due to budget cuts in the US. At that time, the European rover was envisioned as weighing 270 kg and carrying a 14.4-kg science payload.
In 2012, ESA entered negotiations about a new agreement with Roscosmos under which the Russian agency would provide a Proton launch vehicle and develop the descent module and the landing platform for the rover. The agreement was formalised in March 2013. The rover's design reached its final configuration: an autonomous six-wheeled vehicle with mass approximately 300 kg (660 lb), about 60% more than NASA's 2004 Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, but about one third that of NASA's later rovers: Curiosity, launched in 2011, and Perseverance, launched in 2020. The mission completed its System Requirements Review (SRR) in July 2013
Construction The lead builder of the rover, the British division of Airbus Defence and Space, began procuring critical components in March 2014. In December 2014, ESA member states approved the funding for the rover, to be sent on the second ExoMars launch in 2018, but insufficient funds had already started to threaten a launch delay until 2020. The wheels and suspension system were paid for by the Canadian Space Agency and were manufactured by MDA Corporation in Canada. Each wheel is 25 cm (9.8 in) in diameter. Roscosmos was expected to provide radioisotope heater units (RHU) for the rover to keep its electronic components warm at night. The rover was assembled by Airbus DS in the UK during 2018 and 2019.
Testing On 27 March 2014, a "Mars Yard" was opened at Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage, UK, to facilitate the development and testing of the rover's autonomous navigation system. The yard is 30 by 13 m (98 by 43 ft) and contains 300 tonnes (330 short tons; 300 long tons) of sand and rocks designed to mimic the terrain of the Martian environment. Like all other Martian rovers the ExoMars team also built a twin rover for Rosalind Franklin, known as the Ground Test Model (GTM), with the nickname Amalia. This test model borrows its name from Professor Amalia Ercoli Finzi, a renowned astrophysicist with broad experience in spaceflight dynamics. Amalia has demonstrated drilling soil samples down to 1.7 meters and operating all the instruments while sending scientific data to the Rover Operations Control Centre (ROCC), the operational hub that will orchestrate the roaming of the European-built rover on Mars. It was being used in a Mars terrain simulator at the ALTEC premises in Turin. In 2022, engineers were using the Amalia rover to recreate different scenarios and help them take decisions that will keep Rosalind safe in the challenging environment of Mars and to run risky operations, from driving around Martian slopes seeking the best path for science operations to drilling and analyzing rocks.
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