Rosalind Franklin: Europe’s ExoMars rover

What is the Rosalind Franklin rover?

Rosalind Franklin is a European roverRoverA rover is a robot vehicle that drives across Mars, following plans its team on Earth sends ahead of each drive.More in the glossary built to search Mars for signs of past and present life, including below the surface.[1] ESA says it will be Europe’s first rover on Mars.[5] It is the second of two ExoMars missions; the first, the Trace Gas Orbiter, launched in 2016 and has orbited Mars since.[4][5]

Its main tool is a drill that can reach 2 m (6.6 ft) down. That matters because the thin Martian air lets radiation break down organic molecules at the surface; underground, they are better preserved. The deepest anyone has looked for organic molecules on Mars is about 15 cm (6 in), by NASA’s Viking landers in the 1970s, ESA notes.[1][18]

The rover weighs 310 kg (683 lb) and runs on solar power, with small radioisotope heater units to get through the cold nights.[5][1] Its six wheels can each be steered and driven on their own, and it can “wheel-walk” through soft soil and dunes.[1] The planned mission lasts 218 solsSolA sol is a day on Mars — 24 h 39 min 35 s, about 40 minutes longer than ours — and rovers count them from the day they land.More in the glossary, about 224 Earth days; ESA expects the rover to drive several kilometers and says extra time is possible but never guaranteed.[1][18]

When does ExoMars launch?

ESA and NASA are targeting late 2028. NASA has picked SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to launch the mission from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, “no earlier than late 2028.”[2][1] ESA’s mission FAQ, updated in 2024, named October 2028 as the launch opportunity.[3]

The trip to Mars takes about two years, much longer than the usual nine months or so. ESA chose this so the rover lands in Mars’s northern spring, with plenty of sunlight for its solar panels, and gets at least six months of work done before the dustier northern fall and winter, when global dust storms can strike.[1][3] ESA said on Oct 6, 2026 that the rover will land on Mars in 2030.[16] Our launch windows page explains why Mars trips leave every 26 months or so.

How will Rosalind Franklin search for life?

By drilling up samples and testing them in a laboratory inside the rover. The drill reaches its full 2 m by adding three extension rods, and it collects cores about 3 cm long and 1 cm wide (1.2 by 0.4 in). At the best sites, ESA plans “vertical surveys” that take samples every 50 cm (20 in) from the surface down to 2 m.[1]

Each sample is crushed into powder so that three instruments can study the very same grains. The rover carries eight instruments, called the Pasteur payload:[1][5]

From ESA’s mission page and factsheet. NASA provides MOMA’s mass spectrometer and electronics.[1][5][2]

Where will Rosalind Franklin land?

At Oxia Planum, a low plain at about 18°N on the eastern edge of Mars’s Chryse basin.[1] Its rocks hold clay-rich minerals that formed in liquid water some 4.0 to 3.9 billion years ago, about when life appeared on Earth. Later volcanic activity buried the clays and protected them; erosion uncovered them only in the last few hundred million years.[1] The site’s low elevation, about 3 km (1.9 mi) below Mars’s reference level, gives the heat shield and parachutes more air in which to slow the lander.[1]

An ExoMars working group recommended Oxia Planum in November 2018 over the other finalist, Mawrth Vallis; ESA said it offered an extra safety margin for landing and driving.[9] A study published in June 2026 found the clay beds reach about 300 km (190 mi) to Mawrth Vallis and stretch roughly 600 km (370 mi) across. ESA says one idea is that an ocean several kilometers deep once covered the site; another is that groundwater flooded the plains. The rover will try to find out which is more likely.[8] More on Mars’s past water on our water on Mars page.

Why didn’t ExoMars launch in 2020 or 2022?

Delays pushed it from 2018 to 2022, then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ended the partnership it was built around. Under a 2013 agreement, ESA was to supply the rover and its carrier, and Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, the rocket, the descent module and a surface platform.[10] In 2016 the launch moved to 2020 because of delays in European and Russian industrial work and instrument deliveries.[11] In March 2020 it moved again, to 2022, because the spacecraft needed more tests and the worsening epidemic in Europe had disrupted the final work.[12]

The spacecraft was due to move to Baikonur, in Kazakhstan, for its launch campaign in April 2022, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine halted it.[3] ESA then rebuilt the mission around a new European lander. ESA planned to reuse the old lander’s onboard computer, radar altimeter and parachutes; the new platform carries no science instruments and stops working a few sols after landing. The rover’s two Russian instruments were to come off, and ESA was considering replacing the infrared spectrometer with a European one.[3] Its instrument list now includes Enfys, an infrared spectrometer.[5]

1. Mar 14, 2013ESA and Roscosmos sign their ExoMars agreement; the rover is to launch in 2018.[10]
2. May 2, 2016The launch moves to the July 2020 window.[11]
3. Nov 9, 2018Oxia Planum is recommended as the landing site.[9]
4. Feb 7, 2019The rover is named Rosalind Franklin.[14][15]
5. Mar 12, 2020The launch is postponed to 2022.[12]
6. Mar 17, 2022ESA’s Council, citing the war in Ukraine, suspends the work with Roscosmos; the September 2022 launch is off.[13][3]
7. July 2022ESA’s Council cancels the cooperation with Roscosmos on the mission.[3]
8. November 2022ESA member states commit to fund the rebuilt mission, with a new European lander.[3]
9. May 16, 2024ESA and NASA sign an agreement for the launch, braking engines and heater units.[6]
10. Jan 21, 2026ESA reports drop tests of a full-size model of the landing platform and its four legs.[17]
11. Apr 16, 2026NASA approves its part of the mission to begin implementation and names Falcon Heavy as the rocket.[2]
12. September 2026A prototype rover, Charlie, drives 220 m (720 ft) in eight days in Spain’s Tabernas desert, commanded from the control center in Turin.[16]
13. Late 2028Launch target, on a Falcon Heavy from Kennedy.[1][2]
14. 2030Landing at Oxia Planum.[16][6]

What is NASA providing?

The launch, the lander’s braking engines, the rover’s heater units and part of its main science instrument.[2][6] The two agencies signed the agreement on May 16, 2024. The heater units come from NASA with the US Department of Energy; ESA said in 2024 that work on a European heater unit to fly on the mission, led by the UK, would continue in parallel.[6][7] NASA also supplies the mass spectrometer and electronics for MOMA.[2]

NASA’s part depends on the US budget. The White House’s budget request for fiscal year 2026 proposed ending NASA’s support for the mission.[19] On Nov 26, 2025, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said NASA had confirmed its contribution, SpacePolicyOnline reported.[20] The request for fiscal year 2027, released on Apr 3, 2026, has no funding for it, The Planetary Society noted, though NASA approved the work to begin implementation later that month.[21][22][2]

ESA leads the mission and provides the spacecraft: the carrier that flies it to Mars, the landing platform and the rover, plus surface operations.[2] Thales Alenia Space is the industrial lead, and Airbus provides the rover vehicle, the landing platform and the navigation software. The Rover Operations Control Centre is in Turin, Italy.[16] Once on Mars, the rover will send its data home through the Trace Gas Orbiter.[1]

For the rovers working on Mars today, see our Perseverance page and our rovers page, which covers every rover that has driven on Mars.

Sources

1. ESA Exploration Science — ExoMars Rosalind Franklin (RFM)Primary · checked Oct 6, 2026
2. NASA Science — NASA Begins Implementation for ESA’s Rosalind Franklin Mission to MarsPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
3. ESA — FAQ: The ‘rebirth’ of ESA’s ExoMars Rosalind Franklin missionPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
4. ESA — ExoMarsPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
5. ESA — ExoMars FactsheetPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
6. ESA — ESA and NASA join forces to land Europe’s rover on MarsPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
7. NASA — NASA, European Space Agency Unite to Land Europe’s Rover on MarsPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
8. ESA — ExoMars rover targets vast bed of clay in search for lifePrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
9. ESA — Oxia Planum favoured for ExoMars surface missionPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
10. ESA — ExoMars: ESA and Roscosmos set for Mars missionsPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
11. ESA — Second ExoMars mission moves to next launch opportunity in 2020Primary · checked Oct 6, 2026
12. ESA — ExoMars to take off for the Red Planet in 2022Primary · checked Oct 6, 2026
13. ESA — ExoMars suspendedPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
14. ESA — ExoMars rover name announcedPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
15. UK Space Agency — Name of British built Mars rover revealedPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
16. ESA — European rover trains for Mars in the desertPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
17. ESA — Legs made for a Mars landingPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
18. ESA — ExoMars roverPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
19. NASA — FY 2026 Budget Technical SupplementPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
20. SpacePolicyOnline — ESA DG Says NASA Confirms Commitment to ExoMars RoverSecondary · checked Oct 6, 2026
21. NASA — NASA FY 2027 Budget EstimatesPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
22. The Planetary Society — The FY 2027 NASA budget requestSecondary · checked Oct 6, 2026