The ExoMars team tests locomotion systems and software using small rovers on a Mars-like terrain. 

The testing ground is ESA’s Planetary Robotics Laboratory located in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

ExoMars team members Albert Haldemann and Luc Joudrier walk through the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), the largest site and the technical heart of ESA, to reach the Mars yard.

There, they look at scaled down rovers made of off-the-shelf components. The locomotion system is highly inspired by ExoMars to support the mission. The tests are done on a terrain that aims to simulate geological features found in the martian environment.