The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded a contract worth £150 million ($194 million) to Airbus Defence and Space to build the landing platform for its ExoMars rover mission, replacing a component originally provided by Russia.
Airbus will construct the platform in Stevenage, England, where it also assembled the Rosalind Franklin rover. The landing platform plays a crucial role in the rover’s descent to Mars’ surface in 2030, including performing the final landing burn and deploying ramps for the rover’s safe landing.
The ExoMars mission is scheduled to launch in 2028 and includes contributions from NASA. The US space agency will provide throttling braking engines and radioisotope heating units (RHUs) as part of the mission. Due to the RHUs’ presence, which contains small amounts of plutonium-238, the ExoMars rover must launch from the United States.
The ESA’s ExoMars rover aims to search for evidence of past and present life on Mars. Equipped with a drill capable of probing as deep as two meters into the surface, the rover is poised to make history in humanity’s quest for scientific discovery.
Source: https://spacenews.com/airbus-wins-contract-for-exomars-lander-platform