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The ESA's Rosalind Franklin Mars robot has received all of its range of scientific instruments that it will use to look for signs of past or present life on the red planet. In the Airbus Defense and Space facilities at Stevenage, in Hertfordshire, England, the unmanned explorer was equipped with a set of sensors, including the most sophisticated camera to be sent on the surface of Mars.
Named after British scientist Rosalind Franklin, whose work in crystallography has mapped the structure of the DNA molecule, the rover is a key element of the ExoMars 2020 mission scheduled to be launched on 26 March. July to August 13, 2020. This will be the second phase. of the joint ESA / Roscosmos mission on the red planet – the first being the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) launched in 2016 and currently in Martian orbit.
The main mission of Franklin is to search for geological evidence of life on Mars in the distant past of the planet, while it was much wetter and the atmosphere was denser, or that signs of Current microbial life may still exist in buried areas. To do this, the Kazachok landing platform will deposit the Franklin on an ancient seabed located near the equator in the region of Oxia Planum.
Once in the station, the rover will search for preserved areas of ancient stratigraphy that have only recently been discovered (in the geological epoch). He will then bring his instruments, led by PanCam. Installed at the top of a 2m (6.6 ft.) Mast, this state-of-the-art imager features high resolution stereo cameras to create 3D maps for navigation and exploration , as well as collect data in the visible and near infrared wavelengths of the spectrum.
According to ESA, PanCam will work together with its infrared, neutron and multiple wavelength spectrometers, as well as with a drill capable of drilling up to 2 m deep under the Martian surface. These drill samples will then be returned to the mobile for onboard analysis with a focus on finding biosignatures, such as amino acids.
In addition, a Dutch camera built on the drill will take images close to the ground while monitoring drilling operations or, when the drill is tilted, providing additional views from the front of the vehicle. The suite is completed by a basement radar that searches for traces of water or ice under the ground.
The space agency announces that the rover is almost finished and should be shipped to Toulouse, France, where it will undergo environmental protection tests before being sent to Cannes to be docked to the Kazachok lander and for integration with the descent module and the support module. . Then he will be stacked on a Russian Proton-M rocket in anticipation of its launch and arrival on Mars in March 2021.
"Our rover really took shape," says Jorge Vago, scientific leader of the ExoMars rover project at ESA. "We have an extremely powerful scientific charge to explore the surface and subsoil of Mars in our quest for biosignatures."
The video below shows how ESA is testing Rosalind Franklin.
Sources: ESA, British Space Agency
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