EXOMARS ROVER: EXPOSING THE REALITY OF LIFE ON THE RED PLANET

Dedicated AKKA employees are helping to conduct the research and development of the ExoMars 2020 mission by developing and building the ExoMars Rover, a mission which sets out to uncover the history of the Red Planet.

The complete mission will see European and Russian Space agencies, ESA and Rocosmos, join forces to look for signs of life on Mars, and the ExoMars Rover itself will play an integral role in providing key insights into future manned missions.

The UK’s €205million contribution is the second largest, and Airbus D&S is the prime contractor of the ExoMars Rover. Working at Airbus D&S, some of our own engineers are providing the knowledge and expertise crucial to the success of this visionary frontier.

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ESA has stated that the Rover will land on a site with a ‘high potential of having well-preserved organic material’, and will search for signs of past or present life by drilling a hole (2m maximum) into the planet’s surface to investigate the mineralogy. In 2017, ESA decided they would study both Oxia Planum and Mawrth Vallis as possible touchdown sites for the ExoMars Rover. Located in Mars’ northern hemisphere, studies have shown both these sites are likely to harbour evidence of previous water activity.
The Rover’s cleverly designed drill includes an infrared spectrometer which will characterise the mineralogy exposed by the borehole. Then, in the heart of the vehicle, there will be a laboratory which will perform a detailed chemical, physical and spectral analysis on the crushed sample. The MOMA (Mars Organic Molecule Analyser) and mass spectrometer have been provided by NASA.

However, it has taken a feat of complex and rigorous testing to get the team to where they are now. Since the project’s origin, many prototypes of the ExoMars Rover have been produced, each with a name as exotic as the next: Bridget, Bruno, and Bryan- the latter being the latest. Having now finalised the design of the Rover, the Stevenage team is focusing on testing the Rover, including vibration and structure testing.

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Once the final tests have been carried out, the team will then need to complete the final version of the Rover later this year. Although this comes two years before the launch date, it is critical to the success of the mission: the Rover will need to be integrated into the spacecraft which comprises the Russian launch vehicle, ESA carrier module and Russian lander. This all requires final assembly before being launched in Summer 2020.

The ExoMars Rover will be held in a descent module which will disconnect from the rest of the ExoMars craft upon entering Mars’ atmosphere. This descent module will see the Rover safely to the surface of Mars, where it can begin its mission. The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter which was launched in 2016, will continue to orbit Mars, studying the atmosphere and supporting communications between the Rover and the ESOC (European Space Operations Centre). We can expect the Rover to land 9 months after the launch, which is expected to be January 2021.

The Rover boasts many intelligent features, one of which is its ability for autonomous navigation. During its expedition, the Rover will travel several kilometres; as the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter only passes over the Rover approximately twice per sol, and as it can also take up to 24 minutes for signals from Mars to reach Earth, it is essential that the ExoMars Rover is able to assess its surroundings, selecting the safest path of travel for itself.
Using the topmost cameras, the Rover will process a 3D image of the Martian terrain, classifying each of the obstacles into different risk categories and using this information to plan a safe path across the planet. The only navigational input which Earth needs to determine is the final destination of the Rover.