Only one chance: ESA rehearses the first drive off the Mars lander with a twin rover
Before Rosalind Franklin can explore Mars, the rover has to roll down ramps off its lander. In Turin, its twin Amalia practised this more than 20 times – including at a 20-degree tilt.
Photo: Américo Toledano / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Video: YouTube · European Space Agency, ESA · youtube.com
The European Space Agency ESA is preparing the ExoMars rover Rosalind Franklin for one of the most critical moments of the mission: driving off the landing platform onto the Martian surface. In a two-month test campaign conducted by teams from prime contractor Thales Alenia Space at ALTEC's facilities in Turin, the twin rover Amalia drove off a replica lander more than 20 times. An ESA video shows the tests.
A lifting device on the ceiling took two thirds of the weight off the 300-kilogram rover to mimic the lower gravity on Mars. A hydraulic platform tilted rover and lander by 20 degrees, with obstacles placed beneath the ramps. The platform has two pairs of three-metre ramps, front and back, made of honeycomb aluminium and developed by the Polish company Astronika.
"On Mars, we will only have one chance. Once we egress, there is no way back, so we have to get it right," says ESA's ExoMars rover team leader Eric Zekri. The first and most crucial decision, he says, will be which direction to drive down. Rosalind Franklin is due to make this journey on Mars in 2030.