The vicissitudes of the launch to Mars of the ambitious European off-roader Rosalind Franklin
The astronomer Rafael Bachiller reveals to us in this series the most spectacular phenomena of the Cosmos. Pulsating research topics, astronomical adventures and scientific news about the Universe analyzed in depth.
After multiple delays, the European Space Agency (ESA) has put its all-terrain vehicle project for Mars back on track, Rosalind Franklin. According to the new plan, the launch will take place in 2028 and the rover will start rolling on the Martian surface in 2030.
two meters underground
The most ambitious space program currently planned for Mars is a European one called ExoMars.. Its main objective is to bring an all-terrain vehicle named after the eminent chemist and crystallographer Rosalind Franklin to the Martian surface.. And his greatest interest lies in the drill that it has incorporated and that will be capable of drilling the surface of Mars to a depth of 2 meters.. There is no other rover, neither of those that are already on the surface of the red planet, nor of the projected ones, that is capable of doing something like this.
Location of Oxia Planum on Mars
Collecting samples from the subsoil at such depths is what is considered today the most promising experiment to discover signs of life on the red planet, if there ever was.. These samples have been protected from all the inclemencies of Martian meteorology and radiation. For this reason, they will be representative of the most humid past times on the planet, when abundant water flowed across the surface.
The chosen landing site, Oxia Planum, near the equator, is one of those that preserve remains of those wet times. It is thought that in the subsoil there will be significant amounts of water, where life -if there was, or if there is- must have left its mark. The SUV will also explore the entire area and will be equipped with a molecular analyzer to search for and characterize, with very high sensitivity, the organic compounds found there.
multiple delays
The ExoMars program began on March 14, 2016 with the launch of the TGO (Trace Gas Orbiter) orbiter that incorporates, in addition to four measurement instruments, a communications antenna. This ship is still in operation today. The Schiaparelli descent module, intended to test descent and landing technologies, was also on that mission, but it crashed into the surface due to a software failure.
The Rosalind Franklin integrated on the Kazachok platform in Italy
The second part of ExoMars consisted of the launch of the Rosalind Franklin vehicle that was initially scheduled for 2018, but due to the problems encountered in the first part of the program, it was postponed until 2020 (remember that the launch windows to Mars open once every two years). Then the pandemic came and everything was pushed back to the fall of 2022.
But the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 posed a new and very serious problem.. Indeed, Europe and Russia had been collaborating very closely on the mission (USA. had participated in the preparations, very early, but had withdrawn from the collaboration in 2012). Russia was to provide the Proton rocket for the launch, as well as the Kazachok module for the rover's landing on Mars.
When the invasion took place, the Rosalind Franklin was already integrated with the Kazachok module (currently in Italy) which, in turn, includes multiple components made in Europe, such as the on-board computer, a radar altimeter, etc.
In July 2022, ESA terminated its collaboration with the Russian space agency Roscosmos in this and other programs and, consequently, was forced to cancel the launch of Rosalind Franklin.. The mission was at a standstill. Naturally the Kazachok could no longer be used and ESA asked Roscosmos to remove the European components from the module, something that can only be done by the Russian technicians who were responsible for its construction and integration.
new plan
After a period of confusion, the European agency, without the means to carry out the mission alone, began to consider other collaboration options.. ESA soon looked to the US again. and discussions with NASA resumed and have now been progressing rapidly. The US agency is expected to provide the means to develop a new lander to replace the Kazachok.
$30 million for ExoMars is included in NASA's 2024 budget request, and the two agencies continue to discuss the budget that will be needed in subsequent years.. Both agencies are also strengthening ties in the MSR (Mars Sample Return) project, which, following the US initiative, aims to bring samples from Mars to Earth.
As a whole, in the human and robotic exploration program, which includes ExoMars and MSR, ESA will invest 2.7 billion euros. ESA's current plan contemplates injecting 500 million euros of this program into ExoMars, so that the Rosalind Franklin will be launched in 2028.. Of course, the new lander will have a much simpler design than the Kazachok, it will not carry payload in the form of instruments, its only function will be to leave the rover circulating on the surface of Mars.
ESA scientists say the new schedule eliminates some risks, as the rover will land in the northern hemisphere spring, thus providing good lighting for the solar panels and without the danger of dust storms.
Recent ground test of the Rosalind Franklin driller | THAT
As we can see, the path of Rosalind Franklin is being long and tortuous. First the epidemic and then the war have added to the technological challenges faced by all space projects, projects that are among the most complex that humanity conceives today.. I hope the space agencies are capable of continuing to weather all these imponderables and continue to strengthen their collaboration in this type of mission for peaceful purposes.. The study of Mars, our sister planet, will bring us scientific and technological benefits of enormous value for which it is worth waiting for.
Rafael Bachiller is director of the National Astronomical Observatory (National Geographic Institute) and academic of the Royal Academy of Doctors of Spain.