ExoMars 2022: ESA rover Rosalind Franklin to deliver surface platform to the Red Planet

In ExoMars 2022 program ESA's rover, Rosalind Franklin will be a part of the mission. The European rover will help to deliver a Russian surface platform, Kazachok to Mars. ExoMars 2022 mission's spacecraft will make a touchdown on the planet's surface 264 days after its launch on 10 June 2023, at around 17:30 CEST. The trajectory which the spacecraft will follow has already been set. 

ExoMars 2022 program is a joint endeavour between the Roscosmos State Corporation and ESA. The mission also includes the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) which was launched in 2016. For many years TGO has been delivering important scientific results using its own Russian and European science instruments and also relaying data from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover and InSight lander. Now TGO will also relay the data from the ExoMars 2022 mission as well. 

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ExoMars 2022: European rover to be a part of the mission 

The primary aim of the ExoMars 2022 mission is to check if there has ever been life on Mars and also understand the history of water on the planet. The European rover will drill to the sub-surface of Mars to collect samples from about 2 m of depth. These samples later will be analysed using next-generation instruments in an onboard laboratory. As Mar's atmosphere offers very little protection from radiation and photochemistry at the surface, the majority of the underground sample would include biomarkers. The main goal is to land ESA's rover at a site which has high-potential for finding well-preserved organic material, particularly from the history of the planet. 

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The European scientists said that they want to control the rover for as long as possible despite the fact that dust storms are very common on the red planet. Although ExoMars 2022 spacecraft will land outside the dust storm season, there are high chances that build-up of dust on the solar panels will reduce the power supply due to which ESA's Rosalind Franklin rover and the Russian platform Kazachok have a temporary shutdown. Due to this, scientists have decided to launch the ExoMars 2022 mission before the beginning of the dust-storm season. 

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ESA will control all the communications between the European rover and the Russian surface platform during the first few days on Mars. The Trace Gas Orbiter, which has been circling around the planet since 4 years will serve as a data relay platform to support the communications. However, after a few weeks when the surface platform will be safe and able to operate independently, ESA will hand over the communication control to Kazachok to Roscosmos. 

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(With agency inputs)