Mars breakthrough: ‘Inspiring’ UK built Rover that’s vastly quicker than NASA’s Curiosity

ExoFiT is a project managed and implemented by Airbus Defence and Space. It is funded by ESA’s human and robotic exploration programme, which includes work in Low Earth Orbit aboard the International Space Station as well as missions to the Moon and Mars.

The first part of ExoMars, the Trace Gas Orbiter, is already operational around Mars, delivering stunning images of the Red Planet as well as relaying data from NASA’s InSight lander and Curiosity rover.

The future ExoMars rover will be the first of its kind to travel across the Martian surface and drill down to determine if evidence of life is buried underground, protected from the Sun’s radiation that bombards the surface of the Red Planet. Last month the Science Minister, along with British ESA astronaut Tim Peake, revealed the rover will be named Rosalind Franklin, after the UK scientist and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, following a public competition.

ECSAT, in Harwell, is home to ESA’s Analogue Curation Facility which is supporting future planetary exploration. Under ESA contract, Airbus Stevenage is also studying a sample fetch rover, which could retrieve samples left by NASA’s Mars 2020 rover as part of a future joint NASA/ESA Mars Sample Return campaign.