eventful

Rosalind Franklin made one of the most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century. Her colleagues took ownership of her work and received the Nobel Prize and she didn’t even live to see it. When the European Space Agency (ESA) decided to name the ExoMars mission rover with its name, it was not thought that the robot could also drag down the bad luck of his namesake. Unfortunately, it has been dragging on for years with incidents that have delayed its launch. Of course, it seems that at least the Martian Rosalind has finally had a stroke of luck. Everything is ready again for its launch in 2028. There is still time, but there is a lot to do. NASA enters the scene. This April NASA has announced the signing of the Rosalind Franklin Support and Augmentation (ROSA) project, with which it is committed to supporting ESA during the ExoMars mission. Specifically, the US space agency will provide hardware and services for the mission, including launch service, brake motors for the rover’s landing platform and radioisotope heating units for the robot’s internal systems. The launch system chosen will be through a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, which will depart from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. An unprecedented mission. The ExoMars mission It is made up of two pieces. On the one hand, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), which yes it could be launched successfully and has been in Martian orbit since 2016. On the other hand, the Rosalind Franklin rover; which, if all goes well, will be launched at the end of 2028. The orbiter is responsible for studying the Martian atmosphere, while the rover will land on the red planet to search for signs of present or past life under its surface. It will be the first rover with the ability to drill into the ground. Something similar was done with NASA’s Insight missionbut in this case the instrument used was a lander. It couldn’t move around like rovers, so it couldn’t study the planet as thoroughly as Rosalind Franklin will. Many incidents, but there is hope again. The launch of Rosalind Franklin has gone through many incidents. First, there were technical problems and the COVID-19 pandemic that forced the mission to be postponed to 2022. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, was going to be in charge of the launch service. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, all commercial relations between ESA and Roscosmos were severed, so the mission had to be postponed. There was no longer any rocket available to travel to Mars and, in addition, some instruments of Russian origin had to be replaced. It has been many years of waiting, but it finally seems that the agreement with NASA has opened the way to continue with the preparations. Donald Trump’s Government was about to ruin the agreementbut finally the support of Congress was stronger. There is much left to do. Before its launch was postponed, the rover underwent multiple tests to verify that it can withstand Martian conditions. For example, In 2018 it was tested in the Tabernas desert, in Almería. This place was chosen among several terrestrial Martian analogues, among other reasons because it contains a mineral called jarosite that has also been found on Mars. Later in 2020, The rover was tested in a laboratory in Toulousein which Martian environmental conditions were emulated. If it worked well then, it should do so now as well. However, the rover may have to undergo new tests to demonstrate that it is still ready to undertake this journey for which it has waited so long. Surely in these two years Rosalind Franklin finally gives us many things to tell. Image | THAT In Xataka | We have been measuring earthquakes on Mars for years to realize something: its core is not like ours