ESA's Rosalind Franklin Mars rover rehearsed in Spain's Tabernas Desert before 2028 launch

RightScientists and engineers have spent recent weeks testing a replica of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosalind Franklin Mars rover in Spain's Tabernas Desert, in Andalusia near Almería. 1 2 RightThe Daily Mail reports that the real rover is kept in an ultra-clean room in Turin, Italy, while a near-exact, cheaper and repairable copy called Charlie is driven out into the desert each day for three weeks in what the team call 'emulations'. 1 RightThe desert's layered, dry, clay-rich terrain is said to resemble Oxia Planum, the near-equatorial site where the rover is due to land. Professor Susanne Schwenzer of the Open University, field geologist for the tests, said it is 'visually very, very similar to Mars'. 1 2

RightSchwenzer said the tests also train the team to link what scientists want to do with what the machine can do. The Mail says she sweeps away footprints so the control team, viewing through the rover's cameras, are not given reference points they would not have on Mars. 1 RightThe rover's main feature is a drill able to take samples from two metres below the surface, where material should be shielded from the radiation that has sterilised the top of the soil. Both outlets say this depth is critical, and GB News says it would be the first spacecraft to do so. 1 2 RightInstruments choose drilling sites. The Mail describes the WISDOM ground-penetrating radar, tested in the desert, which looks for water-formed minerals and ice layers. GB News names a panoramic camera designed by University College London and an infrared spectrometer built at Aberystwyth University. Onboard analysis will look for biosignatures such as chirality, a preference for one molecular 'handedness'. 1 2

RightTiming and cost are reported differently. GB News says launch is due in 2028 with arrival in 2030. The Daily Mail says the mission could reach Mars 'in just two years' and puts the cost at about $1.3 billion (£980 million), while its headline says £1 billion. 2 1 RightAirbus built the rover in Stevenage. It was originally due to launch in 2022, and the Mail also cites Covid-19 as a delay. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, ESA cut ties with Roscosmos, which had supplied key components. The Mail says all Russian components had to be replaced, and GB News says NASA and the UK Space Agency stepped in. 1 2 RightRadio signals take at least 20 minutes to reach the rover according to the Mail, and between four and 21 minutes according to GB News. Because of this the rover must work autonomously on daily instructions from ESA's control centre, which GB News places in Turin, and nothing can be repaired if it fails. 1 2

RightGB News stresses what finding life could mean. Schwenzer said that if life there is the same, 'we are all from the same ancestor', though panspermia is unproven. Benoît Pouffary, ESA's head of exploration, preparation, research and technology, said he believes life 'may have happened on Mars' and that finding it would change how we imagine the universe. 2