A British-built Mars rover stuck on Earth since the start of the war in Ukraine may soon be on its way after the UK Space Agency agreed to pay for its ride down to the Red Planet.
The European Space Agency’s Rosalind Franklin rover was supposed to land on Mars in 2023.
But the rocket powered system designed to ferry the fragile rover down to the planet’s surface was being built under contract by Russia‘s space agency Roscosmos.
After the invasion of Ukraine, ESA cancelled the contract, leaving the Rosalind rover, designed to search for signs of past life on Mars, stranded.
The £150m contract from the UK Space Agency for Airbus to replace the Russian landing system puts the mission back on track.
“We could unlock some of the key questions that humanity is asking of itself,” said Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science.
“If we could do that, and benefit from some of the results and the innovation that will flow from it, then I think this is a pretty good investment for Britain to have.”
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It’s good news for the Rosalind rover – a central part of ESA’s ExoMars programme – because it’s been one of the most delayed, and disrupted missions in space history.
Early plans saw it launching in 2018.
But NASA, originally a partner in the venture, pulled out due to funding constraints leaving ESA member states having to make up the shortfall.
Completion of the lander was then delayed by COVID restrictions, then essentially grounded when Russia was booted out of the project.
‘Scary but exciting’
Constructed by Airbus UK at its facility in Hertfordshire, it looked for a while as if Stevenage was as close to Mars as the Rosalind rover was going to get.
Now Airbus has the contract to build the lander for the rover as well.
It’s a boost for the UK space sector, but a fraught one.
The company has just three years to complete the project and neither Airbus, nor the UK has built a propulsion system for landing on another planet before.
More stressful still, the fact 60% of Mars missions end in failure, many in the crucial landing phase.
Europe’s last Mars lander – a mission called Schiaparelli designed to test the rover’s landing system – crash landed in 2016.
The UK’s last bid to land on Mars with the bin lid-sized Beagle 2 probe, shared the same fate.
“There’s a lot of effort all working together to make sure we go through each technical detail, that this is sound and we can make it happen,” said Caroline Rodier, ExoMars lander lead at Airbus.
“It is scary, but it is very exciting.”
The Rosalind Franklin rover is designed to look for signs of past, or even present, life on Mars.
Named after the British scientist who helped discover the structure of DNA, the rover carries with it an on-board laboratory to test rock and soil samples for chemical signatures of life.
NASA Mars rover missions have aimed to do the same, but Rosalind’s edge comes in the form of a drill capable of penetrating two metres into Martian soil, hopefully deep enough to find molecules that haven’t been degraded by the harsh radiation on the planet’s surface.
Having its all-important landing system built under the same roof in Stevenage as Rosalind herself, is if anything, a confidence boost, according to the man who led the rover’s development.
“Before we were building our rover and had to rely on others to get it down safely. Whereas now we’re playing a big part in that lander platform,” said Chris Draper, head of Mars programmes at Airbus.
“Knowing these guys as well as I do, I’m pleased we’re part of it.”
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Since their earlier departure NASA has since rejoined the partnership to provide the rocket that will carry the rover to Mars.
It’s due to launch in 2028 and if all goes to plan, Rosalind Franklin could be drilling into the surface of Mars looking for evidence of life by late 2030.
