ESA and NASA confirm collaboration over new Mars Mission

The agreement made on May 16th confirms that NASA will contribute to the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Mars rover mission. They are planning on contributing throttleable braking engines on the descent stage that is being made by ESA as well as radioisotope heating units which harness the heat from plutonium -238 to keep the spacecraft warn. These will require a launch from NASA will launch. ESA is developing its own landing system and has awarded a contract worth $566 million to a private company to design it. Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA's director of human and robotic exploration commented that “This pivotal agreement strengthens our collaborative efforts for the ExoMars program and ensures that the Rosalind Franklin rover will set its wheels on Martian soil in 2030”

Nicola Fox, associate administrator for science at NASA, commented that “The Rosalind Franklin rover’s unique drilling capabilities and onboard samples laboratory have outstanding scientific value for humanity’s search for evidence of past life on Mars.”

This collaboration allows NASA to participate in more Mars missions as they work on their sample return mission and ESCAPADE, a smallsat Mars orbiter mission scheduled to launch later this year.