Commercial Launches Rescue Mars Missions

Europe's long‑delayed Rosalind Franklin rover is being relaunched using a SpaceX Falcon Heavy with NASA supplying critical hardware and integration help. After years of setbacks tied to budgets, technical problems, and shifting state partners (including Russia's removal), commercial launch capacity and US agency re‑engagement have reenabled the mission with a tentative 2028 window. — Shows how commercial launchers and shifting international partnerships now determine whether major planetary science missions proceed, with implications for industrial policy, budgeting, and geopolitical leverage in space.