Europe Drives Dune Buggy Mars Rover Forward!

Jonathan Amos, BBC Science Correspondent, reported that “Esa and its US counterpart, Nasa, want to despatch the Fetch robot and rocket system to Mars in 2026. The limited time means Esa has had to compress its normal contracting arrangements with industry, and is effectively sole-sourcing from Airbus. Ordinarily, companies would still be in open competition at this stage of a project.” Rock samples will be cached in small tubes that Fetch Rover will bring to a ground station that will fire them into Mars orbit for collection by a Euro Satellite and return to Earth.  For more BBC details, click here.

See our recent coverage of Mars Rover missions at these links:

ESA/Russian 2022 ExoMars Mission Overview

Robot Bees to Assist Settlement of Mars

Rover Design Revealed for Mars Rock Retrieval

NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover with Coax Helo Prepares for Launch

Perseverance Mars Coax Helicopter has been Attached to Mars Mission Mothership