NASA And European Space Agency Will Land A Wahana Explorer On Mars

ESA and NASA representatives signed an agreement contract (photo: dock. ESA)

JAKARTA NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) signed the ExoMars Franklin agreement on Thursday, May 16. It is planned that this life-sign search mission on Mars will be held in 2028. The signing of this memorandum of understanding was carried out at the ESA headquarters located in Paris, France. The ESA representative who signed the agreement is the Director of Human Exploration and ESA Robot Daniel Neuenschwander. Meanwhile, NASA was represented by the Associate Administrator of the Nicole Fox Science Mission Directorate. Once the contract was signed, Fox said that NASA strongly supports Rosalind Franklin's mission because the mission is important for the future. "The unique drilling capability of Rosalind Franklin's rover and the sample laboratory in it has tremendous scientific value for the human search for evidence of past life on Mars," Fox said, quoted from NASA's official broadcast. In addition to the future of human life, NASA also supports such a mission to maintain partnerships between the two countries. "(This mission will) continue the strong partnership between the United States and Europe to explore the unknowns in the solar system." ExoMarslind Franklin is a mission driven by ESA over the years. By signing the agreement contract, NASA will provide heating units and propulsion system elements needed by ESA explorers to land on Mars.

Prior to partnering with NASA, ESA collaborated with the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) and the agency would provide a landing platform. However, agreements between the two agencies were suspended due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In a statement, quoted from Planetary, ESA said that it could no longer cooperate with Roscosmos regarding the country's war conditions. Rosalind Franklin's exploration mission was postponed until 2028.