Latest news with #CarolineRodier
The Guardian
29-03-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Europe's first Mars rover will have UK-built lander
Europe's first rover to be sent to another planet is back on track to reach Mars, with the lander that will deposit it on the surface lined up to be built in the UK. The Rosalind Franklin rover – named after the scientist who played a key role in the discovery of the structure of DNA – is part of ExoMars, a European Space Agency (Esa) mission to probe whether life once existed on the red planet, and features a drill to retrieve samples, up to 4bn years old, from two metres below the surface. Initially a joint project with Roscosmos, the rover was expected to launch in 2022. However, the mission was suspended after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But rather than ditch the project, Esa reassessed it, securing more money and striking new agreements for other sources to deliver aspects that were previously to be provided by Russia. Among them, Nasa will now supply the launcher for the rover, as well as a number of other elements including the rover's radioisotope heater units (RHUs). Takeoff is expected in 2028 for arrival on Mars in 2030. Now it has been announced that the rover's landing platform will be built by Airbus at its site in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, as part of a £150m contract awarded by Esa and funded by the UK government through the UK Space Agency. The business is no stranger to the mission: Airbus built the Rosalind Franklin rover itself. But, as Caroline Rodier, the project manager of the lander, noted, getting the rover on to the Martian surface is a challenge. 'Landing on Mars is not an easy task, and the schedule is very ambitious as well,' she said. The idea is that the rover and landing platform will be contained within a capsule Rodier likens to a Kinder Egg, which also features a parachute and a heat shield. On entering the Martian atmosphere, the first parachute is deployed to slow the capsule to subsonic speeds. Then that parachute, and the capsule itself, is jettisoned before a second parachute – attached to the lander – is engaged. 'And then eventually the platform itself, when it's getting quite close [to] the soil, will effectively start firing its thruster quite hard in order to land,' said Rodier. But this landing platform is complex to design: not least as it must be slowed to less than three metres a second before touchdown. 'When you land on Mars with this kind of system, with a platform and thrusters which are firing quite hard in order to break the speed and land safely, it means that you need a propulsion system with a big throughput,' Rodier said. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'If you compare with what we've done elsewhere, which are typical spacecraft, other missions, they have a much smaller throughput. So there are challenges, because it is the first time that we are doing this kind of propulsion system.' Rodier added the team are also working on legs for the lander as well as two symmetrical ramps that will be deployed once it has touched down, allowing the Rosalind Franklin rover to leave the platform via the least risky route. Rodier added that the rover itself is currently undergoing various tweaks and upgrades now that the launch window has changed, including enhancements to its guidance and navigation control system. Paul Bate, the CEO of the UK Space Agency, said: 'This is humanity defining science, and the best opportunity to find if past life once existed on Mars. 'We're proud to have funded this world-leading technology. The ripple effects of space exploration discoveries extend far beyond the realm of space exploration, driving progress and prosperity across multiple sectors in the UK, and inspiring technological advances to benefit us all.'
Sky News
29-03-2025
- Science
- Sky News
British-built Mars rover stuck on Earth could soon be on its way to the Red Planet
Why you can trust Sky News A British-built Mars rover stuck on Earth since the start of the war in Ukraine may soon be on its way after the UK Space Agency agreed to pay for its ride down to the Red Planet. The European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin rover was supposed to land on Mars in 2023. But the rocket powered system designed to ferry the fragile rover down to the planet's surface was being built under contract by Russia 's space agency Roscosmos. After the invasion of Ukraine, ESA cancelled the contract, leaving the Rosalind rover, designed to search for signs of past life on Mars, stranded. The £150m contract from the UK Space Agency for Airbus to replace the Russian landing system puts the mission back on track. "We could unlock some of the key questions that humanity is asking of itself," said Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science. "If we could do that, and benefit from some of the results and the innovation that will flow from it, then I think this is a pretty good investment for Britain to have." It's good news for the Rosalind rover - a central part of ESA's ExoMars programme - because it's been one of the most delayed, and disrupted missions in space history. Early plans saw it launching in 2018. But NASA, originally a partner in the venture, pulled out due to funding constraints leaving ESA member states having to make up the shortfall. Completion of the lander was then delayed by COVID restrictions, then essentially grounded when Russia was booted out of the project. 'Scary but exciting' Constructed by Airbus UK at its facility in Hertfordshire, it looked for a while as if Stevenage was as close to Mars as the Rosalind rover was going to get. Now Airbus has the contract to build the lander for the rover as well. It's a boost for the UK space sector, but a fraught one. The company has just three years to complete the project and neither Airbus, nor the UK has built a propulsion system for landing on another planet before. More stressful still, the fact 60% of Mars missions end in failure, many in the crucial landing phase. Europe's last Mars lander - a mission called Schiaparelli designed to test the rover's landing system - crash landed in 2016. The UK's last bid to land on Mars with the bin lid-sized Beagle 2 probe, shared the same fate. "There's a lot of effort all working together to make sure we go through each technical detail, that this is sound and we can make it happen," said Caroline Rodier, ExoMars lander lead at Airbus. "It is scary, but it is very exciting." The Rosalind Franklin rover is designed to look for signs of past, or even present, life on Mars. Named after the British scientist who helped discover the structure of DNA, the rover carries with it an on-board laboratory to test rock and soil samples for chemical signatures of life. NASA Mars rover missions have aimed to do the same, but Rosalind's edge comes in the form of a drill capable of penetrating two metres into Martian soil, hopefully deep enough to find molecules that haven't been degraded by the harsh radiation on the planet's surface. Having its all-important landing system built under the same roof in Stevenage as Rosalind herself, is if anything, a confidence boost, according to the man who led the rover's development. "Before we were building our rover and had to rely on others to get it down safely. Whereas now we're playing a big part in that lander platform," said Chris Draper, head of Mars programmes at Airbus. "Knowing these guys as well as I do, I'm pleased we're part of it." Since their earlier departure NASA has since rejoined the partnership to provide the rocket that will carry the rover to Mars. It's due to launch in 2028 and if all goes to plan, Rosalind Franklin could be drilling into the surface of Mars looking for evidence of life by late 2030.
