Britain’s First Mars Rover: Airbus Lands £150M Contract for ExoMars 2028

The European Space Agency (ESA) resumed preparations for an “ExoMars-2028” mission and plans to land a rover with scientific equipment on the surface of the Red Planet in 2030. Recently, it became known that British engineers and scientists would join the program. A European space rover built in the UK will land on Mars for the first time.

Rosalind Franklin Rover Is Back on Track: The UK Is Taking the Lead

On 29 March, Airbus posted a press release announcing that its British subsidiary, Airbus UK, had won a contract worth £150 million.  

The contract with Thales Alenia Space (TAS), the prime contractor for the “ExoMars-2028” mission, involves developing critical systems for the “ExoMars” landing module. This module will take the Rosalind Franklin rover to the surface of Mars as part of a future ESA exploration mission.

As Managing Director of Airbus Defence and Space UK Katha Escott said, “Delivering the Rosalind Franklin rover to the surface of Mars is a huge international challenge and the culmination of more than 20 years of work. We’re proud to have built the rover in our state-of-the-art clean room at Stevenage and are now excited to develop the project to ensure its safe delivery to Mars.”

The Airbus UK team will build the landing structure, the extensive propulsion system to provide the final braking thrust, and the landing gear to ensure the landing module is stable. The landing module will have two ramps deployed on opposite sides so that the rover can travel along the surface of Mars in the least risky route.

UK Technology Minister Peter Kyle said: “This inspiring example of world-class British science will bring us one step closer to answering long-asked questions about potential life on Mars. By landing the first ever home-grown rover on Mars, Airbus will not only help Britain make history and lead the European space race, but will also create hundreds of highly skilled jobs and investment as we secure Britain’s future through our Plan for Change.”

Objectives of the ESA Mars Exploration Mission

According to ESA, “ExoMars” will explore the surface of Mars in search of signs of past life.

After a long journey and landing, the rover will collect soil samples by drilling through Martian soil to a depth of up to 2 meters and analysing their chemical, physical, and biological properties using the Advanced Analytical Laboratory Drawer (ALD) developed by Thales Alenia Space.

One of the mission’s goals is to search for subsurface bacteria, living or fossilised, that could be evidence of existing or previous life on the Red Planet.

This information from other planets could help us better understand our place in space and planetary evolution.

“ExoMars 2028”: A Long Journey with Multiple Stops

The launch was initially scheduled for 2018 but was postponed until 2020 due to payload and delivery issues.

In 2019, Airbus completed the design and construction of the “Rosalind Franklin” rover in a clean room for the bioburden at Stevenage and was ready to deliver it to TAS, the mission’s prime contractor.  

In 2020, parachute problems again delayed the launch by 2 years.

In 2022, the program was halted due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the interruption of cooperation between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos. The Russian side was supposed to provide launch services and supply components for the landing module.

In 2024, the ExoMars-2028 mission was restarted thanks to the European Space Agency’s determination, supported by the Italian and UK Space Agencies and a renewed partnership with NASA. The mission’s original scientific objectives were maintained.

The Airbus team at Stevenage is tasked with developing the mechanical, thermal, and propulsion systems required for the landing platform, which will ensure the rover lands safely on the surface of the Red Planet.

After entering and descending into the Mars atmosphere and undergoing a parachute braking phase, the Airbus landing platform is expected to land safely on Mars’s surface and facilitate the rover’s deployment.

According to the latest information, the mission will launch from Kennedy Space Center between October and December 2028 aboard a rocket supplied by NASA. The rover is scheduled to land in 2030, avoiding a global dust season on Mars.