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The aeronautical company Airbus and the European Space Agency have signed a £ 3.9 million contract to develop a rover that will collect samples of the surface of Mars.
Samples will be brought back to Earth for analysis; in a "first" for space exploration that could change our knowledge of space.
British engineers will work on the concept in the Airbus base at Stevenage, just north of London
The partnership was announced by British astronaut Tim Peake and Sam Gyimah, Minister of Universities, of Science, Research and Innovation, as well as Harwell Space Cluster organizations.
Tim Peake said, "This is an exciting new era where space companies and agencies are working more than ever on ambitious missions to expand our knowledge of the solar system and bring benefits to the life of the people.
"The close collaboration between the United Kingdom and the European Space Agency will place Britain at the forefront of innovative missions to explore the Moon, Mars and beyond. "
continued:" The innovation that we see in the British space industry is made possible through collaboration and partnerships among industry, agencies and organizations. Universities, and Harwell Space Cluster clearly demonstrates the excellent work being done in this area. Industrial strategy, we want to see more innovation, collaboration and disruption and by investing 2.4% of our GDP in R & D by 2027, we will continue to be a world leader in the development of space technology. "
Airbus was given the green light to design a vehicle concept capable of recovering Martian samples First, the Mars 2020 robot (already finalized) will drill and collect soil samples, transfer them to small containers and place them at pickup points
Then, six years later, if everything goes as planned, the 130 kg fetch rover will land on Mars with an ascent vehicle. the dropped containers and return them to the lift vehicle, which will leave Mars and return to Earth with soil samples.
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This is not a trivial matter: the fetch rover must be able to cover great distances with great autonomy, planning his own way day after day, Ben Boyes, leader of the Airbus feasibility team , at declared to the BBC .
Companies such as Rezatec, Oxford Space Systems, Deimos, Lockheed Martin and Neptec, the British Space Agency and the RAL Space Center of the Science and Technology Facilities Council were all present for the announcement .
They are all based at Harwell Campus, as members of a group of 80 rapidly growing private, public, and academic organizations that form the Harwell Space Cluster. The goal of the group is to help the UK seize 10% of the global space segment by 2030.
Dr. Barbara Ghinelli, director of the Harwell Campus, commented on the Need for collaboration: Harwell thrives in an entrepreneurial ecosystem that promotes the growth and commercialization of new ideas. British Technology Responds to Jeremy Wright's Appointment as Digital Secretary
"Clusters facilitate communication between organizations, pooling resources for collaborative projects and sharing risks, and providing services. She added:
Scientists have asked some of the most pressing questions about Mars, as if she could, or never, have harbored life. , can not be answered by analyzing the rocks of its surface.
UK SpaceTech
This comes at a time when the British space industry is growing. Figures from the Harwell Campus show that it accounts for 13.7 billion pounds sterling for the economy and employs more than 38,000 people across the country. From small satellite technology and telecommunications to robotics and Earth observation, innovative technologies are evolving and simultaneously reducing the cost of space exploration.
This is an opportunity for the UK to thrive in the commercial space age. The 6.7 million euro financing in June is just one example of successful investments in UK companies. The OSS built SpaceTech, including deployable antennas and panel systems, which are lighter, less complex and more expensive than those currently available – depending on the company.
Seraphim Capital, a specialized investor, is also the world's first venture capital fund. the growth of companies operating in the spatial ecosystem. The company invests in start-ups that transform global industries through the generation, enhancement and application of satellite data and drones.
SpaceCamp, an accelerator that will support the growth of six startups in SpaceTech's space cohort, including QuadSAT, Tesseract, Earth Rover and Global Surface Intelligence.
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