All articles tagged with #exomars
ESA used 20 three‑inch micro‑capsules fired from a bore gun at about 2,600 mph to simulate entering Mars’ atmosphere. Despite their toy-like size, the capsules withstood up to ~17,000 g’s and collected data on acceleration, trajectory and stability to validate the Entry, Descent and Landing Module (EDLM) that will carry the Rosalind Franklin rover to Mars in 2028.
SpaceX has secured its first Mars mission by launching Europe’s Rosalind Franklin rover to Mars in late 2028 aboard a Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center. The rover is part of ESA’s ExoMars program, which faced delays after NASA’s initial involvement waned and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted partnerships; NASA later rejoined in 2024 to provide propulsion components and a mass spectrometer for life-detection, solidifying a path to the planned 2028 liftoff within Mars launch windows that occur roughly every 26 months.
NASA has awarded SpaceX's Falcon Heavy the launch contract for Europe’s Rosalind Franklin Mars rover, finalizing a decades‑long ExoMars saga with a late‑2028 liftoff and 2030 Mars arrival, and a mission to drill up to two meters into the Martian crust to hunt for organic molecules.
ESA’s Mars Express captured a November 9, 2024 image showing a dark blanket of volcanic ash creeping over Mars near Utopia Planitia, contrasting with NASA’s 1976 Viking views. Scientists suggest the ash spread could be wind-driven or the dust covering it has been removed, indicating surface change over decades. The feature sits above ice beneath the surface and includes scalloped depressions that hint at periglacial processes, underscoring Mars’ volcanic history and ongoing landscape evolution mapped by Mars Express since 2003.
A May 2024 solar superstorm from sunspot AR3664 produced an X2.9 flare and a coronal mass ejection that not only triggered a major Earth geomagnetic storm but also dramatically swelled Mars’s lower ionosphere—nearly threefold—as solar plasma and X‑rays flooded the planet’s upper atmosphere. ESA’s Mars Express and the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter used radio occultation to measure the changes, showing how solar activity injects energy and particles into Mars’s atmosphere and highlighting its ongoing atmospheric loss. The orbiters briefly glitching during the storm but ultimately recovering demonstrates the value of radiation‑hard spacecraft for space weather studies.
A European Space Agency orbiter captured images of 'barcode'-like dust avalanches on Mars caused by meteoroid impacts, but a study shows most slope streaks are due to seasonal wind activity, contributing significantly to Martian dust circulation.
Europe successfully tested its largest-ever Mars parachute in the Arctic, a crucial step for the upcoming 2028 ExoMars mission to land the Rosalind Franklin rover on Mars, amid ongoing funding and collaboration challenges.
The most complex parachute system ever designed for Mars has successfully been tested in Earth's Arctic conditions using a high-altitude balloon, confirming its readiness for the upcoming ExoMars mission to ensure a safe landing for the Rosalind Franklin rover on Mars.
ESA's Mars Express offers a virtual flight over Ares Vallis on Mars, showcasing the planet's ancient water-carved landscapes, including channels, islands, and chaotic terrain. The tour highlights significant sites like NASA's Pathfinder landing area and the planned ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover site. The film, created using high-resolution data and digital terrain models, provides a detailed view of Mars's water-rich history and geological features.
The European Space Agency has awarded a 522 million euro contract to Thales Alenia Space to resume work on the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin mission, which aims to search for evidence of past or present life on Mars. The new contract will replace Russian contributions and involve the development of a new landing platform, with NASA providing aerobraking engines and radioisotope heating units. The mission is now scheduled for launch in the fourth quarter of 2028, marking a major stabilization of the program after being derailed by geopolitical issues.
The European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin ExoMars rover will use a newly detailed geological map of its landing zone on Mars to aid its search for ancient life. The rover's mission, delayed to October 2028 due to geopolitical events, will involve drilling into clay sediments to retrieve samples for analysis by on-board instruments. The map, created by 80 volunteers during COVID lockdown, identifies 15 specific types of geologic units in the Oxia Planum region, providing crucial guidance for the rover's journey and potential discovery of biosignatures.
House appropriators have released a report accompanying the commerce, justice, and science spending bill for fiscal year 2024, fully funding NASA's Mars Sample Return program at $949.3 million and instructing NASA to request the necessary funding in 2025 to ensure the sample retrieval lander and Earth return orbiter missions launch by 2030. However, the report also blocks funding for NASA's support of the European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin ExoMars rover. The House bill reduces funding for Earth science, astrophysics, heliophysics, and biological and physical sciences compared to the Senate bill, and provides specific language directing NASA to prioritize proximity to the current curator for the receiving facility of extraterrestrial samples.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is set to issue a contract opportunity to design a new lander for the ExoMars mission, following the loss of the Russian lander due to the severed partnership between Russia and ESA. The mission, originally scheduled for 2020, is now expected to launch no earlier than 2028. To save the mission, ESA has approved a record-breaking budget of 16.9 billion Euros ($17.6 billion) over three years, with hopes of receiving additional funding from NASA. The ExoMars mission includes the Trace Gas Orbiter and the Rosalind Franklin rover, which is designed to search for signs of Martian life.
The European Space Agency's ExoMars program is set to launch its Rosalind Franklin rover in 2028, carrying a next-generation mass spectrometer that could help answer the question of whether there is evidence of past or present life on Mars. The instrument, known as the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer, will analyze any carbon-containing material found underneath Mars's surface, looking for molecular patterns that are unlikely to be formed in the absence of living biology. The rover will land at a Martian site that likely had water 4 billion years ago, and a drill will retrieve ancient samples from as deep as two meters.
The European Space Agency's ExoMars program is set to launch its Rosalind Franklin rover in 2028, carrying a next-generation mass spectrometer that could help answer the question of whether there is evidence of past or present life on Mars. The instrument, known as the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer, will analyze any carbon-containing material found underneath Mars's surface, looking for molecular patterns that are unlikely to be formed in the absence of living biology. The rover will land at a Martian site that likely had water 4 billion years ago, and a drill will retrieve ancient samples from as deep as two meters.