The ExoMars Program

Mars has become a hive of activity for space missions, and it’s unsurprising that this will continue in 2022. Not only will the rovers Curiosity and Perseverance continue their fact-finding missions on the Martian surface, but in September the ExoMars Rover and Surface Platform are scheduled to join them. The rover, named Rosalind Franklin, and the Russian lander, dubbed Kazachok – which will serve as a surface platform for conducting science experiments – should arrive at the Red Planet nine months after launch.

The rover will carry the Mars Organic Molecule Analyser (MOMA), which will study organic molecules searching for the key building blocks of life spread across the Martian surface. The Rosalind Franklin rover will also drill down through the surface of Mars in search of organic molecules buried there and protected from the harsh solar radiation of the Sun.