A European mission to explore life on Mars has received a major boost after a UK firm was awarded more than £10m to replace Russian components in the Rosalind Franklin Mars Rover.The rover, built by Airbus in Stevenage as part of a European Space Agency programme, was due to launch in 2022 before collaboration with Russia’s space agency was cancelled following the illegal invasion of Ukraine.Now, the UK Space Agency will provide an additional £10.7m to a UK team to replace a Russian-made instrument on the Rosalind Franklin rover, with the aim of launching to Mars in 2028.
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