ESA's Rosalind Franklin Rover Secures Falcon Heavy Launch to Mars in Late 2028 via NASA Partnership

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 04:36:00 +0200

The European Space Agency's long-delayed Rosalind Franklin rover mission has finally found a path forward after years of setbacks. Originally planned under the ExoMars program with Russian cooperation using a Proton-M rocket and the Kazachok landing platform, the mission was halted in 2022 due to geopolitical tensions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The rover, weighing 310 kg and designed to drill up to two meters into the Martian surface in search of signs of past or present life, faced multiple postponements from its initial 2018 target.

In response, the ESA developed an alternative European landing platform and entered a cooperation agreement with NASA in 2025 called ROSA (ROsalind Franklin Support & Augmentation). Under this partnership, the United States will provide the launch vehicle and plutonium-238 radioisotope heater units essential for the rover to survive Mars' cold nights. Despite concerns over proposed NASA budget cuts under the Trump administration, the collab