After months of meticulous trajectory planning, ESA and Roscosmos have finalized the path to Mars. Launch is slated for September 2022, with landing targeted for summer 2023.
Following in the footsteps of NASA, the UAE, and China, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos planned to seize this year's launch window for their joint ExoMars 2020 mission to the Red Planet. The goal: search for signs of ancient life, mirroring NASA's Perseverance objectives.
Technical challenges with the parachute deployment system for landing the Rosalind Franklin rover ultimately prompted a tough call: postponing the mission.
"Considering recommendations from European and Russian inspectors general, ExoMars experts concluded that more time was needed to test all spacecraft components for the Mars journey," ESA explained in March.
The COVID-19 pandemic compounded issues. As ESA and Roscosmos leaders noted, ensuring system reliability required on-site expert visits to partners mainly in France and Germany—countries hit hard by early waves of the virus.
The next Mars launch window wouldn't open until 2022. Postponement left the schedule uncertain while engineers recalculated trajectories.
Now, after intensive work, ExoMars 2022's route is set: liftoff on September 20, 2022, for a precise landing on June 10, 2023, around 5:30 p.m. French time on Oxia Planum. This northern hemisphere site near the equator is rich in clays from ancient channels, hinting at a wet past.
An earlier arrival a week ahead was considered but ruled out due to risky early spacecraft connections, per ESA. "That option was too hazardous," says Tiago Loureiro, ExoMars operations manager.
Upon arrival, a Russian-built stationary platform will deploy instruments to analyze the Martian environment and map subsurface water distribution.
ESA's Rosalind Franklin rover will explore the site, drilling up to two meters deep for samples. Ancient life may have sought refuge underground from cosmic radiation. Samples will return to the platform for detailed analysis.
The mission is designed to last about five years, potentially revealing whether life ever thrived on Mars.
