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Europe pushes ahead with 'dune buggy' Mars rover
By Jonathan Amos
BBC Science Correspondent
16 June 2020
AIRBUS
The comparison with a Fiat 500 car gives a sense of scale for the Fetch rover
The European Space Agency is moving rapidly to develop its next Mars rover.
It already has one vehicle set to go to the Red Planet in 2022, but is now pushing ahead with a second robot, which will depart in 2026.
This additional rover is part of the US-European project to return rock samples to Earth for analysis.
Esa has awarded an advanced B2 contract to the UK arm of the aerospace giant Airbus, which will enable the firm to kick-start the necessary technologies.
The new rover is dubbed "Fetch" because its mission will be to find and retrieve the rock samples that have been collected and cached on the surface by the American Perseverance rover, which is heading to Mars next month.
More:
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-53062617
