ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Mission
ESA · European Space Agency
Mass
~310 kgas of [2]Landed
TBD ~2030 (post-2028 launch window)Landing Site
Oxia PlanumOperational
—Launch
NET late 2028 (Falcon Heavy from LC-39A)
Landing
TBD ~2030 (post-2028 launch window)
Oxia Planum
Mission End
—
| Agency | ESA |
| Operator | European Space Agency |
| Vehicle Type | Rover |
| Power System | Solar panels + NASA-supplied radioisotope heater units (RHUs) for night/winter survival |
| Primary Contractor | Airbus Defence and Space (rover) / Thales Alenia Space (mission prime) |
| Instruments | 9 Pasteur payload instruments + 2 m sub-surface drillas of [2]Includes PanCam, ISEM, CLUPI, WISDOM radar, ADRON-RM, Ma_MISS, MicrOmega, RLS Raman, MOMA organic molecule analyser |
| Landing Site | Oxia Planum18.27°N 24.55°W |
Europe's first Mars rover, designed to drill 2 m below the surface — deeper than any previous Mars mission — to search for biosignatures shielded from surface radiation. After the 2022 suspension of Russian cooperation, ESA rebuilt the mission with NASA support: on April 16, 2026, NASA formally began implementation of its contributions (Falcon Heavy launch services from LC-39A, braking engines for the landing platform, and radioisotope heater units), targeting a late-2028 launch and a ~2030 landing at Oxia Planum.
See how Rosalind Franklin stacks up side-by-side against other Mars surface vehicles.