Airbus has been awarded a contract worth 150 million British pounds (approximately €179 million/$194 million) by the European Space Agency (ESA). It is going to build an important tool.
The company will build a landing platform for the Rosalind Franklin rover, which is scheduled to land on Mars in 2030. This announcement was made by the UK Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology. A rover is a remotely controlled robot that can explore the surface of planets. Airbus is building both the rover and the landing platform in the United Kingdom.
The landing platform is a complex system with several crucial components. It must be able to decelerate the rover from 45 meters per second at the end of the parachute descent to less than 3 meters per second just before landing. This is achieved using retro-rockets, for which Airbus is integrating a powerful propulsion system. In addition, the platform is equipped with a landing gear that ensures stability during landing.
Roscosmos
For this mission, ESA is collaborating with the American space agency NASA. Originally, the Russian space agency Roscosmos was also involved, but the collaboration was suspended after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. By awarding the contract to Airbus, ESA aims to replace the Russian components.
The ExoMars mission aims to find traces of life on Mars, both past and present. The Rosalind Franklin rover is equipped to collect and analyze samples from Mars up to a depth of two meters below the surface, something that has never been done before. The rover’s launch is scheduled for 2028, and the landing on Mars is expected in 2030.