Mars Rover assembly complete ahead of 2020 launch

The assembly of the ExoMars Rover is now complete ahead of its proposed blast-off date next year.

However, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) ExoMars mission to the Red Planet could hang in the balance, as successful tests on the rover’s parachutes are yet to be conducted.

The Rosalind Franklin rover’s supersonic parachutes will be put through their paces in the US state of Oregon in November, but if sufficient progress is not demonstrated, the July 2020 launch date could be in jeopardy.

Pietro Baglioni, the ESA’s ExoMars manager, explained that two tests earlier this year revealed problems of a similar nature, related primarily to the packaging and extraction system of the parachute.

He added that there is an understanding of what the issues are and measures are being implemented to address them.

Mr Baglioni said: “November has to work, or at least give the indication the measures implemented are successful.”

Named after the British DNA pioneer Franklin, the six-wheeled robot will search for life on Mars. It is equipped with a two-metre drill to take samples from below the surface where they will have been protected from the harsh radiation environment.

Europe’s first planetary rover was assembled at Airbus in Stevenage.

The vehicle features nine instruments which will help scientists conduct a step-by-step exploration of the Red Planet, from a panoramic scale and progressively converging to smaller (sub-millimetre) studies, concluding with the molecular identification of organic compounds.

The rover is also equipped with an autonomous navigation system, developed by Airbus, which will enable it to travel between sites of interest much more quickly than by being driven remotely in real time from Earth.

On Tuesday, the rover says goodbye to Stevenage and travels to Airbus Toulouse for testing. It will then make its way to Thales Alenia Space In Cannes, before its launch from Baikonur in Kazakhstan, scheduled for July 2020.

The Rosalind Franklin is due to land on Mars on March 19 2021 after a nine-month trip.

ExoMars is a European Space Agency programme in co-operation with the Russian space agency Roscosmos and the contribution of NASA.

The project, which started in 2005, has waited a long time for completion, facing a number of obstacles along the way. These have included issues relating to funding and politics.

Mr Baglioni said that one obstacle was a number of European contributors wanting to be part of the mission.

He added: “It is such a challenging and fantastic mission that everybody was willing to participate and to offer instruments.

“And then there was funding as well, because the mission was very expensive – going to Mars is not something easy.”