After launch in 2028, the Rosalind Franklin rover and its landing platform will begin a 25-month journey to Mars.
After sterilisation, the Rosalind Franklin parachute was packaged in protective wrapping and returned to Thales Alenia Space in Turin for integration.
If successful, the Rosalind Franklin mission will be ESA’s first soft landing on the surface of Mars.
The Rosalind Franklin rover will drill beneath the surface of Mars in search of signs of ancient life.
The European Space Agency completed a more than 79-hour sterilisation of the parachute for its Rosalind Franklin rover.
The Rosalind Franklin landing sequence will unfold entirely autonomously because the communications round-trip time between Earth and Mars is longer than the descent.
The Rosalind Franklin rover is scheduled to launch in 2028 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy.
ESA Member States voted in November 2022 to fund development of replacements for the Roscosmos-supplied elements of the Rosalind Franklin mission.
ESA used identical copies of the Rosalind Franklin rover parachute at its Life Support and Physical Sciences Laboratory in the Netherlands to refine a dry heat microbial reduction process.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center supplied components including a mass spectrometer for the ESA's Rosalind Franklin rover's Mars Organic Molecular Analyzer.
The White House’s FY2027 budget request suggests canceling NASA’s participation in the Mars mission involving the ESA Rosalind Franklin rover.
The Planetary Society says the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin mission is one of about 50 NASA science missions facing cancellation after a proposed 23% budget cut to $18.8 billion.
Rosalind Franklin is a deep-space mission for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy.
SpaceX is tasked to launch the ESA Rosalind Franklin rover as soon as late 2028 for a reported $175.7 million.
SpaceX is the commercial launch provider for the Rosalind Franklin rover’s Mars mission.
The Rosalind Franklin rover is part of the European Space Agency’s ExoMars program.
The Rosalind Franklin rover is designed to drill into Martian soil and collect samples from depths not accessible to other vehicles.
SpaceX will launch the Rosalind Franklin rover to Mars on Falcon Heavy in late 2028.
NASA’s responsibility to procure launch services for Rosalind Franklin stems from a May 2024 partnership agreement that assigned NASA that mission element.
The Rosalind Franklin rover mission is designed to search for signs of past or present life on Mars.