On 16th April, NASA signed up to the ROSA project with ESA. Formally called the Rosalind Franklin Support and Augmentation (ROSA) Project, it builds on a 2024 MoU for the space agencies to cooperate.
The importance of ROSA
NASA has approved the ROSA project to begin implementation, strengthening the ongoing partnership with ESA on the Rosalind Franklin mission. The European Space Agency leads the mission and will provide the spacecraft, including the carrier module, a landing platform, the rover, and surface operations. NASA’s role focuses on supporting these elements through its own contribution and services.
The Rosalind Franklin mission is planned to launch in 2028. It aims to explore Mars for signs of past or present life beneath the planet’s surface, making it the first rover to pursue such evidence in that region. The ROSA project will supply specific hardware and services to ESA, covering the launch, braking engines for the rover’s lander, and radioisotope heater units to keep internal systems warm.
Additionally, the project encompasses specialized electronics and a high-end mass spectrometer for the Mars organic molecule analyzer instrument. This instrument will search for the building blocks of life within samples collected at the landing site, Oxia Planum, where the rover will operate.
Earlier steps set the stage for this collaboration. In early 2024, NASA and ESA signed a Memorandum of Understanding to broaden NASA’s involvement with the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover. That year, the project gained formal approval to begin Phase B, and it successfully passed the Preliminary Design Review’s success criteria.
Launch arrangements are in place through NASA’s Launch Services Program. SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket has been selected to carry the Rosalind Franklin mission from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The schedule targets opportunities to launch no earlier than late 2028.
The Rosalind Franklin rover’s fourth try
Getting to Mars has not been easy for the rover. An American agreement to participate in the project in 2009 changed timelines and architecture, as did NASA’s overall withdrawal in 2012. Roscosmos was contracted to send the rover, as well as the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. The latter was launched and is still in operation. However, technical delays and the COVID pandemic pushed the rover’s launch to 2022. The Russian full-scale military invasion of Ukraine led ESA to scrap the launch and remove a pair of Russian-built science instruments. NASA’s 2024 MoU was almost shelved by the Trump administration but survived due to congressional support for the project.
Published by James Hydzik
James Hydzik is a technology geek focused on the junction of engineering, writing, and coffee. He joined Orbital Today in 2020 to help make sense of the Johnson government’s decision to buy OneWeb. Since then, he has taken on interviewing and editor-in-chief roles. James learned the ropes of editing and writing with Financial Times magazines, The World Bank, PwC, and Ericsson. Thus far, interviewing New Space movers has put the biggest smile on his workaday face. The son of an Electrical Engineer, James understands the value of putting complex topics into clear language for those with a lay person’s understanding of the subject. James is a European transplant from the United States, and as ex-KA3LLL, he now holds European amateur radio licenses. His next radio project is a portable 10GHz EME (moonbounce) station, as it combines his childhood interests in antennas and space.