THE UK has completed the build of its first-ever Mars rover, designed to search for signs of alien life on the Red Planet in 2030.
It is a landmark feat for the UK, and will be the first European-built rover to ever fly to Mars.
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Its job will be to drill out two-metre cylinders of Martian dirt to check for signs of past or present life – such as fossilised microbes.
Samples obtained by the rover could be up to 4billion years old.
The Mars-bound robot, dubbed the Rosalind Frank rover, has cost roughly £1billion from start to finish.
It gets its name from British scientist Rosalind Franklin, whose work was central to understanding the molecular structures of DNA.
The Rosalind Frank rover is due to launch in 2028 aboard a rocket organised by Nasa, and land on Mars in 2030.
Ground-level operators plan to land the pricey bit of kit at Oxia Planum – a 200km-wide clay-rich plain on Mars.
The region, one of eight potential landing sites outlined by the European Space Agency (ESA), was picked after a five-year-long selection process.
Scientists believe Oxia Planum was once home to water, which is why there is so much clay in the region.
“This is humanity defining science, and the best opportunity to find if past life once existed on Mars,” Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency, said in a statement.
“The ripple effects of space exploration discoveries extend far beyond the realm of space exploration, driving progress and prosperity across multiple sectors in the UK, and inspiring technological advances to benefit us all.
“Our journeys into space continue to improve our lives here on Earth.”
Airbus is now working on a separate £150million landing pad that will help deliver the rover safely to the Martian surface.
ESA initially awarded the contract to build the ExoMars mission rover to Russia, before the country invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Mars facts
Here’s what you need to know about the red planet…
- Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun
- It is named after the Roman god of war
- The landmass of Mars is very similar to Earth but due to the difference in gravity you could jump three times higher there than you can here
- Mars is mountainous and hosts the tallest mountain known in the Solar System called Olympus Mons, which is three times higher than Everest
- Mars is considered to be the second most habitable planet after Earth
- It takes the planet 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun
- The planet has a diameter of 4,212 miles, and has an average distance from Earth of 140 million miles
- Martian temperatures can vary wildly, reaching as high as 70F/20C or as low as -225F/-153C
Rosalind Frank was first ready to launch aboard Russia’s Proton rocket that same year.
However, the plan was shelved as ESA cancelled Russia’s involvement in the ExoMars project.
The contract was later reassigned to Airbus UK, which built the gadget from its base in Stevenage and replaced all the Russian-built components.
The last country to send a rover to Mars was the US in 2021 with Nasa’s Perseverance rover, which has been traversing the Red Planet alone for more than four years.
Funded by the government and the UK Space Agency, the ExoMars rover is expected to sustain roughly 200 space sector jobs.
Technology Secretary, Peter Kyle, said: “This inspiring example of world-class British science will bring us one step closer to answering long-asked questions on potential life on Mars.
“Landing the first ever home-grown rover on Mars, Airbus will not only help Britain make history and lead the European space race but also bring hundreds of highly skilled jobs and investment.”
How long does it take to get to Mars?
It’s not that short of a trip…
- There’s an immense distance between Earth and Mars, which means any trip to the red planet will take a very long time
- It’s also made more complicated by the fact that the distance is constantly changing as the two planets rotate around the sun
- The closest that the Earth and Mars would ever be is a distance of 33.9million miles – that’s 9,800 times the distance between London and New York
- That’s really rare though: the more useful distance is the average, which is 140million miles
- Scientists on Earth have already launched a whole bunch of spacecraft to (or near) Mars, so we have a rough idea of how long it takes with current technology
- Historically, the trip has taken anywhere from 128 to 333 days – admittedly a huge length of time for humans to be on board a cramped spacecraft.
Image credit: Alamy
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