ExoMars Carrier and Descent Module

The ExoMars carrier module and descent module containing the lander platform Kazachok have been integrated in Turin, Italy. A structural-thermal model of the rover is contained inside.

The composite craft has now moved on to ThalesAlenia Space (TAS) in Cannes, France for environmental testing, while the Rosalind Franklin rover undergoes environmental testing in Toulouse, France.

ESA’s ExoMars mission is due to launch in 2020. It will investigate how Mars has evolved and whether there may be conditions for life.

The 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’.

The rover will collect samples and analyse them with next-generation instruments – a fully fledged automated laboratory on Mars.