Mars yard visit

Heads of the Russian, European and UK space agencies at Airbus, Stevenage, UK, on 22 February. 

“Today was a unique occasion, and a great pleasure for us to welcome the heads of the Russian, European and UK space agencies to Airbus in Stevenage,” said Colin Paynter UK Managing Director Airbus Defence and Space. “Our visitors were able to see good progress on the mechanical prototype of ESA’s ExoMars Rover, which is in integration, and also preparations for building the flight rover itself.”

ESA Director General Jan Wörner added, “It was inspiring to see the progress being made for our ExoMars rover mission, and even more so in the same week that we are celebrating our ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter completing aerobraking at Mars, something we have never done before with such a huge spacecraft. We’re looking forward to preparing for the orbiter’s science mission as well as relaying data from rovers already on the surface back to Earth – and in a few years time, from our own ExoMars rover.” 

Pictured (from left): ‘Bryan’, the test rover; David Parker, ESA Director of Human and Robotic and Exploration; Jan Wörner, ESA Director General; Igor Komarov, Director General of State Space Corporation Roscosmos; Nicolas Chamussy, Head of Airbus Space Systems; Graham Turnock, Chief Executive UK Space Agency; Colin Paynter, Managing Director Airbus Space UK.