Overview In mid-2010s, the mission was scheduled to launch in early 2020s in cooperation with the Russian
Roscosmos. The
Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 caused a delay of the programme, as the member states of
ESA voted to terminate the cooperation. In 2024, the project received additional funding to restart and complete the mission with launch scheduled for 2028 using a
NASA-procured US launch vehicle and Mars landing scheduled for no earlier than 2029 using a new European landing platform.
Origins The rover was proposed in 2001 as part of ESA's
Aurora Programme based on the
astrobiology community's advice published in a 1999 document called the "Red Book". It was originally conceived as a 120-kg rover with a 10-kg science payload, launched in 2009 by a
Soyuz-2-1b rocket from
Kourou. The
Ariane 5 and
Proton rockets were also considered after the project was broadened in scope in mid-2000s. At that time, the European rover was envisioned as weighing 270 kg and carrying a 14.4-kg science payload. The rover's design reached its final configuration: an autonomous six-wheeled vehicle with mass approximately , about 60% more than NASA's 2004
Mars Exploration Rovers
Spirit and
Opportunity, but about one third that of NASA's later rovers:
Curiosity, launched in 2011, and
Perseverance, launched in 2020. The mission completed its System Requirements Review (SRR) in July 2013 In December 2014, ESA member states approved the funding for the rover, to be sent on the second
ExoMars launch in 2018, but insufficient funds had already started to threaten a launch delay until 2020. The wheels and suspension system were paid for by the
Canadian Space Agency and were manufactured by
MDA Corporation in Canada. Roscosmos was expected to provide
radioisotope heater units (RHU) for the rover to keep its electronic components warm at night. The rover was assembled by Airbus DS in the UK during 2018 and 2019.
Testing On 27 March 2014, a "Mars Yard" was opened at
Airbus Defence and Space in
Stevenage, UK, to facilitate the development and testing of the rover's autonomous navigation system. The yard is and contains of sand and rocks designed to mimic the terrain of the Martian environment. Like all other Martian rovers the ExoMars team also built a twin rover for
Rosalind Franklin, known as the Ground Test Model (GTM), with the nickname
Amalia. This test model borrows its name from Professor
Amalia Ercoli Finzi, a renowned astrophysicist with broad experience in spaceflight dynamics.
Amalia has demonstrated drilling soil samples down to 1.7 meters and operating all the instruments while sending scientific data to the Rover Operations Control Centre (ROCC), the operational hub that will orchestrate the roaming of the European-built rover on Mars. It was being used in a Mars terrain simulator at the ALTEC premises in
Turin. In 2022, engineers were using the
Amalia rover to recreate different scenarios and help them take decisions that will keep
Rosalind safe in the challenging environment of Mars and to run risky operations, from driving around Martian slopes seeking the best path for science operations to drilling and analyzing rocks.
Landing site selection A primary goal when selecting the rover's landing site is to identify a particular geologic environment, or set of environments, that would support —now or in the past— microbial life. The scientists prefer a landing site with both morphologic and mineralogical evidence for past water. Furthermore, a site with spectra indicating multiple
hydrated minerals such as
clay minerals is preferred, but it will come down to a balance between engineering constraints and scientific goals. Engineering constraints call for a flat landing site in a latitude band straddling the equator that is only 30° latitude from top to bottom because the rover is solar-powered and will need best sunlight exposure. Scientific requirements include landing in an area with 3.6 billion years old
sedimentary rocks that are a record of the past wet habitable environment. The year before launch, the European Space Agency will make the final decision. These landing sites exhibit evidence of a complex aqueous history in the past. On 21 October 2015,
Oxia Planum was chosen as the preferred landing site for the rover, with
Aram Dorsum and
Mawrth Vallis as backup options. In March 2017 the Landing Site Selection Working Group narrowed the choice to Oxia Planum and Mawrth Vallis, and in November 2018, Oxia Planum was once again chosen, pending sign-off by the heads of the European and Russian space agencies. File:Mars landing sites 2014.jpg|White circles show the landing sites proposed for the ExoMars rover File:NASA-OxiaPlanum-LocationMap-20151021.png|Location of
Oxia Planum File:NASA-OxiaPlanum-GeologicalContext-Morphology-20140514.jpg|Geological morphology of Oxia Planum File:Oxia Planum near Coogoon Vallis by HiRise.jpg|Oxia Planum near Coogoon Vallis, by
HiRise File:ESP 066622 2000 Mars A Technicolor Mound near Oxia Planum2.jpg|A mound near Oxia Planum, by
HiRise Naming In July 2018, the European Space Agency launched a public outreach campaign to choose a name for the rover. On 7 February 2019, the ExoMars rover was named
Rosalind Franklin in honour of scientist
Rosalind Franklin (1920–1958), who made key contributions to the understanding of the molecular structures of
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid),
RNA (ribonucleic acid),
viruses,
coal, and
graphite.
Launch delays By March 2013, the spacecraft was scheduled to launch in 2018 with a Mars landing in early 2019. Delays in European and Russian industrial activities and deliveries of scientific payloads forced the launch to be pushed back. In May 2016, ESA announced that the mission had been moved to the next available
launch window of July 2020. In March 2020, ESA delayed the launch to August–October 2022 due to parachute testing issues.
Landing site re-evaluation The delay of the rover mission to 2020 from 2018 meant that Oxia Planum was no longer the only favourable landing site due to changes in the possible
landing ellipse. Both Mawrth Vallis and Aram Dorsum, surviving candidates from the previous selection, could be reconsidered. ESA convened further workshops to re-evaluate the three remaining options and in March 2017 selected two sites (
Mawrth Vallis,
Oxia Planum) to study in detail. On 9 November 2018, ESA announced that
Oxia Planum was favoured by the Landing Site Selection Working Group. The favored Oxia Planum landing ellipse is situated at 18.20°N, 335.45°E. In 2019,
Oxia Planum was confirmed by ESA as the landing site for the planned 2020 mission. Later that year, a flyover video of the landing site was released, created using high-accuracy 3D models of the terrain obtained from
HiRISE. In August 2022, the
Oxia Planum region was discovered to be rich in
clays, which are formed in water-rich environments. In March 2025, scientists have published the most detailed geological map of
Oxia Planum ever in the
Journal of Maps. The map will be used by ESA to decide how the rover explores the area, interprets its surroundings, and collects scientific evidence.
Partnership with Russia cancelled The diplomatic crisis over the
Russian invasion of Ukraine further delayed the launch, due to the plan to use Russian launch and landing hardware. On 17 March 2022, ESA announced that the launch of the rover has been suspended, with the earliest new date being sometime in late 2024. Later in March 2025,
Airbus was selected to build the landing platform replacing the previously planned Russian lander., 2025
Resumed preparations In March 2025, the French-German Research Institute of Saint-Louis (ISL) was testing the aerodynamics of the Descent Module by shooting a tiny sensor-equipped model of the capsule from a gun at speeds ranged from 1,800 to 4,300
km/h. On 7 July 2025, ESA has retested the parachutes by dropping a dummy Descent Module from a stratospheric helium balloon launched from
Esrange. This was needed for recertification of the system after the restart of the mission preparations. In early August 2025,
ArianeGroup has receives a
heat shield mock-up from Loiretech to be used for the initial qualification of the Descent Module heat shield. In October 2025, the Polish company Astronika demonstrated the deployment of the landing platform's ramps and the Welsh
Aberystwyth University delivered a test model of the ENFYS infrared spectrometer, replacing the cancelled Russian ISEM, for installation on the rover's Ground Test Model in
Turin, Italy. In early December 2025, Loiretech delivered a full-scale mock-up of the rear heat shield structure of the Descent Module to
ArianeGroup's facilities in
Saint-Médard-en-Jalles. In late 2025, NASA confirmed that it still planned to provide all previously agreed elements of the mission (launch vehicle, radioisotope heater, braking engine, and one science instrument) despite the budget uncertainty in the US. At the November 2025 ministerial council in
Bremen, ESA member states confirmed all necessary funding for continuation of the
ExoMars programme including the
Rosalind Franklin rover, although the overall
Human and Robotic Exploration programme received lower than expected funding. In December 2025,
Thales Alenia Space and
Airbus started performing drop tests with a full-scale model of the landing platform in
Turin, Italy in order to verify the performance of the platform's landing legs and touchdown sensors. In March 2026, NASA reaffirmed its commitment to the mission and on 16 April 2026, the agency approved the Rosalind Franklin Support and Augmentation (ROSA) project, providing the previously agreed hardware and services to the ESA-led mission. NASA also announced the selection of
SpaceX's
Falcon Heavy rocket for the rover's launch from
Launch Complex 39A at
Kennedy Space Center in late 2028. In April 2026, the 35 m, 74 kg second stage main
parachute (the mission's largest) went through dry heat
sterilisation at
ESTEC in order to prevent contamination of Mars with Earth
microbes in accordance with
planetary protection measures. Later, it was sent back to
Thales Alenia Space in
Turin for spacecraft integration. == Mission components ==