Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, Nov. 27 (Xinhua)-- according to Nature, 360 million euros of investment from European countries saved the European Space Agency (ESA)'s suspended Mars exploration program (ExoMars) after severing ties with its former partner Russia.

Europe's Rosalyn Franklin rover is scheduled to launch in 2028 after receiving 360 million euros of investment from European countries. The money will allow the European Space Agency (ESA) to start designing a new landing platform to launch its first Mars probe to the surface of the planet. ESA severed ties with the mission's former partner, the Russian Space Agency, in March. Russia had previously been responsible for the design and construction of landing devices for rovers, as well as launch missions.

CTOnews.com learned that the launch of the ExoMars rover was originally planned for 2018, but technical problems had to be postponed several times. Before relations with Russia deteriorated, the epidemic postponed the original 2020 launch plan to 2022. A spokesman for ESA told Nature that the cost of delaying the launch plan from 2020 to 2022 is about 100 million euros.

Despite delays and rising costs, scientists are excited about the ExoMars mission, the second part of a plan, the first part of which is an orbiter that arrived on Mars in 2016 and has been looking for biological or geological sources of methane and other gases.

It is reported that the Franklin rover carrying a 2-meter-long drill bit will drill deep under the surface of Mars to find evidence of ancient life that has been preserved.

"even if the rover is launched in 2028, it is unique." Francesca Esposito, a planetary scientist at the Naples Observatory in Italy, said that the ExoMars project was the first mission to explore the early history of Earth-like planets, and the Mars rover landed on Mars' Oaksha Plateau, where ancient and water-rich Martian environment information was preserved, as well as chemicals before the origin of life, and perhaps even unique information about life on Mars.

ESA Director Josef Aschbacher said at a news conference after the meeting that ESA hopes NASA can help by providing mission launchers, braking engines for landings and radioisotope heating devices that are necessary for Rosalyn Franklin to survive the harsh Martian nights.

EU member States pledged cash for the mission at the ESA ministerial meeting held in Paris on November 22-23, at which they pledged a total budget of 16.9 billion euros for the project over five years. This includes 2.7 billion euros for human and robot space exploration and 3.2 billion euros for the agency's science program.

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