Planet Mars: Preparing Europe's Rosalind Franklin Rover for a First Drive | ESA
Of course, before the European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin can explore the planet Mars, it has to get off its lander. Engineers are rehearsing this on Earth using a full-size rover model and Mars-like terrain. The test recreates challenges Rosalind Franklin will face on the Red Planet from reduced gravity and a 20-degree incline to uneven ground and obstacles beneath its ramps.
Scheduled for launch in 2028, Rosalind Franklin is set to arrive on Mars in 2030.
ESA’s ExoMars program will deliver the European Rosalind Franklin Rover, tasked with searching for traces of life and with characterizing the shallow subsurface environment.
The ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Mission (EXM-RFM) includes important contributions from NASA: the launch service, the lander’s descent engines, Radioisotope Heating Units (RHUs) for the Rover’s thermal control, and components of the MOMA instrument. The mission’s launch is scheduled for late 2028. RFM will reach Mars after a journey of approximately two years, longer than the usual 9 months. This trajectory has been chosen to ensure that touchdown takes place during the northern-hemisphere spring to guarantee plenty of sunlight on the Rover’s solar panels.
The main scientific objective of Rosalind Franklin is to search for signs of past and present life. To achieve this goal, the mission will land at an ancient site—rich in sedimentary deposits (clay minerals) that formed in the presence of abundant liquid water—and explore the area in a quest for finding morphological and chemical biosignatures.
After landing, Rosalind Franklin will deploy its solar panels and locomotion system. Ground control will study the surroundings to choose directions for travel. The Rover can use one of two sets of descent ramps to reach the surface. Once on the ground, Rosalind Franklin will move away from the lander to start its traverse, identify, reach, and investigate scientifically promising locations.
The Rover is equipped with a drill to collect samples at and below the surface. The drill has a maximum vertical reach of 2 meters (~6.5 feet). Scientifically, this is very important because it is in the subsurface that organic molecules (some of which could be biosignatures) are preserved from the ravages of ionizing radiation prevailing at the top. The deepest anyone has explored for organic molecules on Mars is ~15 cm—a record still held today by NASA's Viking landers from the 1970s. Therefore, the 2-m drill will allow us to explore for the first time Mars’s third dimension: depth.
The Rosalind Franklin Rover will carry a set of eight instruments collectively referred to as “the Pasteur payload”. They will be utilized to explore the landing site, identify targets for close-up studies, characterize the shallow subsurface, and analyze samples obtained with the drill.
https://explorationscience.esa.int/project/exomars-rosalind-franklin-rfm/
Duration: 1 minute, 44 seconds
Release Date: Oct. 12, 2026
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