Europe Wants to Go to Mars -- but Needs SpaceX to Help

Elon Musk isn't the only one who wants to go to Mars. As we learned earlier this month, Europe is keen on the idea as well -- and in a surprising coincidence, the European Space Agency (ESA) will seek Musk's help to get them there.

Unlike Musk's plan to "colonize Mars," however, all Europe wants to do for now is send a rover to the Red Planet.

Image source: NASA.

Remembering Rosalind Franklin

The ESA rover in question, named "Rosalind Franklin" after the British DNA researcher, will travel to Mars in 2028 to seek out organic materials suggesting past life on the Red Planet. ESA will build the rover, the landing platform that puts it on the surface, the carrier module that houses it, and the spacecraft that carries the whole shebang to Mars.

NASA will assist with technology to build the rover's astrobiology instrument, the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA). NASA's also arranging for the spacecraft's transport off Earth, preparatory to its interplanetary voyage.

And the spacecraft it's chosen to perform this mission is SpaceX's Falcon Heavy.

As NASA explained in a press release, this choice wasn't arbitrary. Europe's own ArianeGroup probably has spacecraft capable of the mission, as does United Launch Alliance here in the U.S. But bidding for this project was competitive, with NASA requiring its contractor to enter into a fixed-price contract (i.e., not cost-plus).

With SpaceX offering launch prices generally well below those charged by either Ariane or ULA (although the specific launch price of Falcon Heavy is no longer published), I suspect the price factor immediately swung the contract award in SpaceX's favor.

Also weighing in SpaceX's favor, though, is the proven reliability of its launch vehicle, versus, for example, ULA's Vulcan Centaur and Blue Origin's New Glenn (both of which have suffered recent launch mishaps), and also the absence of Roscosmos from the bidding. (Roscosmos was originally supposed to launch Rosalind Franklin, but was dropped because of the Ukraine war.)

Caveats and provisos

So once again, SpaceX is proving itself the launcher of last resort -- when a package absolutely, positively, has to get to Mars on time and on budget, it's SpaceX that gets the call.

I have to say, this is good PR for the company, and fortuitous timing ahead of this summer's planned SpaceX IPO. One factor to keep an eye on, though:

As SpaceDaily reports, President Trump's just-released 2027 NASA budget zeroes out funding for the Rosalind Franklin mission. Given this, it's curious that NASA went ahead and awarded the contract anyway -- without funding to back it up. Presumably, the space agency is hoping Congress will reverse the funding cuts to keep the rover mission alive. Indeed, a coalition of science-minded senators say they plan to do just that.

If they fail, however, don't be too surprised if this mission ends up getting canceled, denying SpaceX its $175.7 million payday for launching the Falcon Heavy to carry the rover. By the time that happens, though, I suspect the SpaceX IPO will be over and done with.

Bad news for anyone planning to buy into the overpriced IPO -- but at least you've been warned.

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