Spacewatch: Martian rocks on Earth a step nearer as UK builds red planet rover

The European Space Agency has awarded a £3.9m contract to Airbus, in Britain, to design a new rover, in a project with Nasa, that will visit Mars to retrieve samples for bringing back to Earth for the first time.

As well as the scientific insights expected, especially into whether Mars was ever habitable, the mission will help researchers plan for any crewed mission to the red planet. In the 1960s lunar samples, for instance, that were sent back to Earth, gave unprecedented insights into the origin of the solar system.

The “sample return” rover mission is due to launch no earlier than the mid-2020s. This rover will retrieve samples already left by Nasa’s Mars mission, planned for 2020, and transfer them to a spacecraft known as an orbiter for the journey home.

Nasa is designing the rocket that will launch from the surface of Mars, once the rover has loaded up the samples. Besides the Nasa rover, Airbus is already building the rover for the space agency, for sending to Mars in 2020.

Nasa and ESA announced their intention in April to develop a joint mission to bring rock samples back from Mars.