NASA gets the ball rolling on its part in Europe's jinxed Mars rover mission

What NASA will provide

NASA has approved the Rosalind Franklin Support and Augmentation (ROSA) project to begin implementation, clearing the agency’s main hurdle to support ESA’s long-delayed rover. The US will supply braking engines for the lander, radioisotope heater units to keep the rover’s instruments warm, and the all-important launch services — a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center no earlier than late 2028. Simple on paper. Hard-won in practice.

A rover with a long, troubled history

Rosalind Franklin has been sitting in storage since its 2022 launch was canceled; earlier plans to fly in 2020 were postponed after testing issues, and a later Russian partnership evaporated after the invasion of Ukraine. The project was conceived in 2001, picked up and dropped by partners over the years, and survived more than two decades of stop-start politics and technical headaches. This rover can drill up to two metres beneath the Martian surface in search of past life — the science payoff would be huge if the hardware finally gets its moment.

Funding fights and a nickname

It has been reported that the Trump administration repeatedly tried to cut NASA’s contribution, including a proposal floated while the Artemis II crew were circling the Moon. Those proposed cuts could still be reversed by Congress, as they were last year. And it has been reported that one agency insider has dubbed the rover “snakebit” — a grim little nickname for hardware that has dodged every bullet and still hasn’t rolled.

Why it matters

If the ROSA implementation stays on track, this mission could close a 25‑plus‑year chapter of dithering and deliver one of Europe’s most ambitious astrobiology experiments to Mars. Will it finally work? Fingers crossed — and funds secured — because after decades in limbo, the emotional payoff would be enormous: a rover once destined for the scrap heap finally punching its ticket to another world.

Sources: The Register