ESA rover in Atacama Desert

ESA's Seeker rover during its May 2012 test campaign in Chile's Atacama Desert, coasting along one of the rare flat loam deposits. The autonomous rover was built and tested through ESA's StarTiger programme, gathering together a specialised team working in a fixed timescale to achieve technology breakthroughs. The ROBOVOLC platform, which served as the basis for the locomotion system, was not specifically designed for Mars-like conditions, nevertheless it proved very trustworthy.