The Anon rover was establish for Mars , but its interplanetary mission got derailed . The car - sized robot is now undergoing tests at a quarry near London in Hope that it could one day go to the Moon instead .
Over the preceding two weeks , Airbus has been test its sample fetch rover in a quarry near Milton Keynes in the U.K. , which nicely copy alien surround . The develop squad is hop that the rover might eventually explore and work on the Moon , The Guardianreported .
The Mars Sample Fetch Rover , also known as Anon , was built by European aerospace company Airbus , and it ’s designed to collect sample distribution thermionic vacuum tube left behind byNASA ’s Perseverance roamer , which has been roaming the Red Planet since February 2021 . Earlier this class , however , NASA and the European Space Agency ( ESA ) announced achange of plansfor itsMars Sample Returnmission , which seeks to return samples to Earth next ten . rather of using the sample distribution fetch rover , NASA wants Perseverance to transfer the sample distribution tubes to a lander that will be hold off nearby . The infinite representation also wants to send two Ingenuity - class whirlybird to Jezero Crater to scoop up the sampling underground and deliver them to the locality of the lander .
An illustration of the Mars Sample Fetch Rover on the surface of the Red Planet.Illustration: Airbus
The precipitous change in plan meant that Europe ’s rover lost its ticket to Mars . That enunciate , Anon ’s developers , which have been working on the rover for the past four years , are n’t give up on this niggling hombre just yet and continue to persist tests of the rover ’s systems . “ Even though the mission may have fade away , the core technology is still ready and able to go and this is the form of the final step in proving that it work , ” Ben Dobke , a project handler at Airbus , assure The Guardian .
or else of Mars , Anon could be head to the Moon ’s surface as part of NASA’sArtemis program , which seeks a sustained and sustainable presence in the lunar environs . The bird of passage wo n’t collect sample distribution tube on the Moon , but it could be used for other purpose , such as helping to make lunar home ground .
The rover will need some tweaking for a Moon mission , otherwise it wo n’t exist the colder temperatures and the total lack of atmosphere . Anon will also have to be adjusted such that it can recover from the long nights on the Moon , which last for 14 twenty-four hours , thereby placing it in total swarthiness for elongated full stop , according to The Guardian . Anon does not yet have a ticket to the Moon , but its developer want to be ready should the chance come out .
Anon is the second European - built Martian scouter to overleap out on its chance to call in the Red Planet . ESA ’s ExoMars scouter was supposed to launch this year , but thespace federal agency suspend the joint missionwith Russian quad agency Roscosmos following the invasion of Ukraine . The two rovers are currently wait their new fate , but both seem quick for some celestial exploring .
More : The Perseverance Rover Finally Got Its First Martian Rock Sample , For Real This Time
airbusExoMarsExploration of MarsMars roversOpportunitySpacecraftSpaceflight
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