In a move that perfectly encapsulates modern bureaucracy, NASA has selected SpaceX's Falcon Heavy to launch a European Mars rover that the agency is simultaneously proposing to defund. The announcement on April 16 approved the Rosalind Franklin Support and Augmentation (ROSA) project, which provides critical support for the European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin rover mission. NASA's contributions include braking engines for the descent stage and radioisotope heater units (RHUs), which use plutonium decay to keep the rover warm, plus electronics and a mass spectrometer instrument.
This support stems from a 2024 agreement made after ESA severed ties with Russia following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The rover was originally supposed to use a Russian landing stage, RHUs, and a Proton launch vehicle. Since NASA is now supplying the RHUs, the mission must launch on an American rocket, leading NASA's Launch Services Program to select the Falcon Heavy for a late 2028 liftoff.
The agency spokesperson revealed the launch contract is worth $175.7 million, covering the launch service and other mission costs. This figure is notably similar to the $178 million 2021 award for the Falcon Heavy launch of NASA's Europa Clipper mission and less than the $255 million awarded in 2022 for the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
Despite proceeding with the launch selection, NASA's fiscal year 2027 budget proposal includes zero funding for ROSA, omitting it entirely from the detailed congressional justification document released April 3. An analysis by The Planetary Society notes this budget proposes to cancel over 50 science missions, with ROSA being one of 10 planetary science missions on the chopping block, representing 29% of the agency's current portfolio. This isn't ROSA's first brush with cancellation; it was also targeted in 2026 before Congress restored its funding.
Congressional pushback is brewing, with members from both parties opposing the cuts. Senator Jerry Moran, R-Kan., chairman of the relevant appropriations subcommittee, stated on April 12 he would seek to reverse them. Furthermore, 22 senators, led by Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., sent a letter on April 14 requesting $9 billion for NASA science in 2027 - a nearly 25% increase from the $7.25 billion in 2026 and a stark contrast to the White House's proposed 50% slash to $3.9 billion. All signatories were Democrats except Sen. Angus King, I-Maine.
Meanwhile, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher, during an April 14 speech, tactfully avoided any mention of the budgetary sword hanging over NASA's support. He focused solely on the mission's scientific merits, which involve a rover digging below the Martian surface to retrieve samples and search for evidence of life, calling it "really something that is quite important."