Airbus Defence and Space has been chosen by the European Space Agency (ESA) and mission prime industrial contractor Thales Alenia Space (TAS – a JV between Thales and Leonardo) to design and build the landing platform for ESA’s ExoMars mission. ExoMars involves the safe landing of the already-built Rosalind Franklin rover on the surface of the Red Planet.

“Getting the Rosalind Franklin rover onto the surface of Mars is a huge international challenge and the culmination of more than 20 years’ work,” highlighted Airbus Defence and Space UK MD Kata Escott. “We are proud to have built the rover in our state-of-the-art Stevenage cleanroom and delighted now to develop the project to ensure its safe delivery to Mars. Rosalind Franklin will be the first Martian rover able to analyse samples from two metres below the surface in its search for past or present life. The mission will supercharge our space know-how in the UK, and will advance our collective understanding of our solar system.”

Under the contract (awarded by TAS), Airbus’ Stevenage, UK, facility will design the propulsion, thermal and mechanical systems needed to safely land the rover on Mars in 2030. These systems include the landing structure, the landing gear, and the large propulsion system (which will provide the final breaking thrust). The propulsion system will have to slow the lander’s velocity from 45 m/s at the end of its parachute descent stage to less than 3 m/s, before touchdown using retrorockets.

The lander will have two ramps to allow the rover to drive on to the Martian surface.

The Rosalind Franklin rover was built by Airbus in Stevenage and handed over to TAS in 2019. The first rover to be designed and built in the UK, it was intended to be launched on a Russian rocket in 2022, but that plan was aborted by the Russia-Ukraine War. The mission will now be launched on a US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) rocket.

Meanwhile, Airbus is working with ESA, TAS and Nasa to maintain and upgrade the rover. These activities include the fitting of Radioisotope Heater Units, supplied by Nasa, which will keep the rover warm when it is on the Martian surface, and a new software mode that will enable the rover to rapidly become autonomous after it lands.    

To date, the Stevenage facility has designed and built more than 120 propulsion systems for more than 90 spacecraft. These include chemical, electrical and cold gas systems used on science and exploration, Earth observation and telecommunications missions.