Test drives of a Mars mobile in a high-tech sandbox

Oerlikon Space is currently testing an autonomous robotic vehicle for Mars; in the year 2015, as part of its ExoMars scientific mission, the European Space Agency (ESA) plans to land an autonomous robot of this type on the Red Planet to search for signs of life there. The Zurich-based space company Oerlikon Space is developing the locomotion system for the Mars rover. A full-scale preliminary test model of the rover was completed in mid-April and is now undergoing a series of rigorous tests lasting about a month. The specialists from Oerlikon Space have set up a special "test terrain" for this purpose, where they can simulate the conditions that the rover will encounter when it has to travel over the surface of Mars. The surface of Mars consists mainly of very fine sand. The Oerlikon engineers have therefore set up a 20-square-metre "sandpit" for the tests, filled with extremely fine-grained sand. The rover needs to be easy to manoeuvre on soft ground.