British engineers have assembled the European Space Agency (ESA) ExoMars rover at an Airbus site in Stevenage, which will seek out signs of life on Mars next year.

The mars rover, which is the result of cutting-edge work from UK, European and Canadian scientists and engineers, will now be shipped to Toulouse in France where it will undergo testing ahead of its launch next summer. It will have to withstand the freezing conditions of Mars when it lands on the red planet in March 2021.

The rover is part of ESA’s ExoMars mission to examine the geological environment on Mars and search for signs of life. It will search for signs of past or present life on Mars and is equipped with a 2m drill to take samples from below the surface where they will have been protected from the harsh radiation environment.

The rover features nine instruments which will help scientists conduct a step-by-step exploration of Mars, as well as being equipped with an autonomous navigation system developed by Airbus which will enable it to travel between sites of interest much more quickly than by being driven remotely in real time from Earth.

Colin Paynter, managing director of Airbus Defence and Space UK, said: Seeing the Rosalind Franklin rover finally leave Airbus in Stevenage is a great moment, and I would like to thank all the teams involved for their efforts in making this happen. This European flagship mission now moves to the next stage for final testing and one step closer to launching to the Red Planet next summer.

ExoMars is an ESA program in cooperation with Russian Space Agency Roscosmos with contribution of NASA. Thales Alenia Space is the key Exomars mission industrial partner, supported by Airbus Defence and Space for the rover vehicle, OHB for the carrier module, Lavochkin for the descent module and its surface platform, while Leonardo has provided Rosalind Franklin’s drill.

The UK Government is increasing its investment in science to 2.4% of UK GDP by 2027. The ambition is for the UK be the world’s most innovative economy – and leadership in ESA is a part of this ambition.

The UK Space Agency is the second largest European contributor to the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars mission, having invested €287 million in the mission and £14 million on the instruments. This, in addition to successful negotiations with ESA, secured key mission contracts for the UK space sector.

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