Let’s hope the landing on Mars goes better than during the dress rehearsal in 2016!

It’s going to be a busy place on Mars. Not only are several American Mars rovers scurrying around the surface, the Chinese, Arab Emirates and India can also be found with rovers and probes on and around the planet. Two more visitors will be added this year. Because soon – after some delay – the ExoMars mission will finally be launched, consisting of the long-awaited Rosalind Franklin rover and lander Kazachok.

Rosalind Franklin

For some time now, many have been eagerly awaiting the launch of the ExoMars mission, put together by the European and Russian space agencies. And that is not so surprising. Because the Rosalind Franklin rover may come across extraterrestrial life!

Naming

Rosalind Franklin was a British researcher. Thanks to her work, we know that our DNA has a double helix structure. Her research has also provided more insight into carbon, carbon and graphite. That ESA chose to name the rover after a scientist is not very surprising. Several ESA space missions bear the name of a researcher. Think of Newton’s X-ray Observatory and Planck Observatory.

Rosalind Franklin will specifically look for traces of life on Mars. The rover, which is expected to travel several kilometers, is equipped with a drill that will allow it to peer up to two meters below the surface of Mars. Drilled materials can be analyzed on board the rover and examined for the presence of life and/or building blocks for it. And that’s not even such a crazy thought. It could well be that there are life forms underground that – fairly protected from cold and radiation – still manage to survive to this day. Otherwise, remains of already extinct Martians may well be found.

kazakh

Rosalind the rover will not travel alone to the red planet, however. The Mars rover built by ESA is accompanied by a Marslander that the Russians have crafted. And as Rosalind peers beneath the surface, Marslander Kazachok—which literally means “little Cossack” and refers to the merry Russian folk dance—will stay in one place to investigate the climate, atmosphere and possible groundwater presence at the landing site.

In this photo, the Rosalind rover can be seen atop the Kazachok platform. The two will travel together to the red planet and study it thoroughly. Image:
Thales Alenia Space

The mission can be seen as a follow-up to the mission that the Europeans and Russians set up in 2016. Then they sent the Trace Gas Orbiter and Marslander Schiaparelli to the red planet. The orbiter has nestled neatly into orbit around Mars and will soon be used by Rosalind Franklin to make contact with Earth from the surface of Mars. Marslander Schiaparelli – intended to demonstrate the technology needed for the current mission – did not end well. The lander exploded on the surface of the red planet.

What went wrong?

Schiaparelli’s crash was thoroughly investigated afterwards. The landing module was in fact a guinea pig to test whether the landing mechanism works. And unfortunately that turned out not to be the case. An error likely caused the Schiaparelli module to disable the thrusters too early while it was still a few kilometers above the surface. And so the module smashed and shattered into thousands of pieces on the Martian surface. Fortunately, scientists have had a few years to improve the landing mechanism. And so the researchers are hopeful. Still, this gruesome experience will no doubt add some healthy tension as Rosalind Franklin and Kazachok descend.

Delay

Incidentally, Rosalind Franklin and Kazachok should have been roaming around Mars by now. Unfortunately that wasn’t to be the case. In March 2020, the teams announced that the launch had been postponed to 2022 by mutual agreement. The main reason for the unexpected postponement was because the space agencies needed more time to thoroughly test all the parts and instruments that make up the rover. But the corona virus, which was already a big hit in Europe at the time, also played a role. And so there was nothing for it but to push the launch two years ahead.

It is easy to explain why the launch was postponed by two years in one fell swoop. The best time to send a space mission to Mars is when Mars and Earth are relatively close to each other (so the journey doesn’t consume as much fuel and time). And that moment occurs roughly once every two years.

But this year it will finally happen. Rosalind Franklin and Kazachok will be launched aboard a Proton-M rocket from the Baykonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan; the largest rocket launch site in the world. It is expected to launch sometime between September 20 and October 1, 2022. Rosalind Franklin and Kazachok will then arrive on Mars after a nine-month journey, around June 10, 2023.

The ExoMars Timeline. Image: ESA

landing spot

The exact landing site has been carefully selected by the two space agencies. For example, the rover and the lander will set foot in an area called Oxia Planum. Oxia Planum is located near the equator of Mars and is a somewhat lower area. Observations from space reveal that Oxia Planum is rich in clay-like minerals formed about four billion years ago. Since these minerals could only have formed in combination with water, researchers assume that Oxia Planum once contained quite a bit of water. And where there was water, there may also have been life…

We will therefore know in a few years whether that is actually the case. Mars will therefore be in the spotlight for a while. Incidentally, the red planet has been a source of wonder for centuries. Since the dawn of the space age, leading space travel nations have tried to uncover the mysteries of Mars with modern technology. In fact, more than 40 missions have been sent to the red planet since the early 1960s. Mars has been explored from above, but several robot explorers have already been delivered to the dusty terrain. And exploring, that’s what Rosalind Franklin and Kazachok will do too. What will they find? Maybe things that we can’t even imagine possible right now.