British-built Mars rover stuck on Earth could soon be on its way to the Red Planet
Why you can trust Sky News
A British-built Mars rover stuck on Earth since the start of the war in Ukraine may soon be on its way after the UK Space Agency agreed to pay for its ride down to the Red Planet.
The European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin rover was supposed to land on Mars in 2023.
But the rocket powered system designed to ferry the fragile rover down to the planet's surface was being built under contract by Russia 's space agency Roscosmos.
After the invasion of Ukraine, ESA cancelled the contract, leaving the Rosalind rover, designed to search for signs of past life on Mars, stranded.
The £150m contract from the UK Space Agency for Airbus to replace the Russian landing system puts the mission back on track.
"We could unlock some of the key questions that humanity is asking of itself," said Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science.
"If we could do that, and benefit from some of the results and the innovation that will flow from it, then I think this is a pretty good investment for Britain to have."
It's good news for the Rosalind rover - a central part of ESA's ExoMars programme - because it's been one of the most delayed, and disrupted missions in space history.
Early plans saw it launching in 2018.
But NASA, originally a partner in the venture, pulled out due to funding constraints leaving ESA member states having to make up the shortfall.
Completion of the lander was then delayed by COVID restrictions, then essentially grounded when Russia was booted out of the project.
'Scary but exciting'
Constructed by Airbus UK at its facility in Hertfordshire, it looked for a while as if Stevenage was as close to Mars as the Rosalind rover was going to get.
Now Airbus has the contract to build the lander for the rover as well.
It's a boost for the UK space sector, but a fraught one.
The company has just three years to complete the project and neither Airbus, nor the UK has built a propulsion system for landing on another planet before.
More stressful still, the fact 60% of Mars missions end in failure, many in the crucial landing phase.
Europe's last Mars lander - a mission called Schiaparelli designed to test the rover's landing system - crash landed in 2016.
The UK's last bid to land on Mars with the bin lid-sized Beagle 2 probe, shared the same fate.
"There's a lot of effort all working together to make sure we go through each technical detail, that this is sound and we can make it happen," said Caroline Rodier, ExoMars lander lead at Airbus.
"It is scary, but it is very exciting."
The Rosalind Franklin rover is designed to look for signs of past, or even present, life on Mars.
Named after the British scientist who helped discover the structure of DNA, the rover carries with it an on-board laboratory to test rock and soil samples for chemical signatures of life.
NASA Mars rover missions have aimed to do the same, but Rosalind's edge comes in the form of a drill capable of penetrating two metres into Martian soil, hopefully deep enough to find molecules that haven't been degraded by the harsh radiation on the planet's surface.
Having its all-important landing system built under the same roof in Stevenage as Rosalind herself, is if anything, a confidence boost, according to the man who led the rover's development.
"Before we were building our rover and had to rely on others to get it down safely. Whereas now we're playing a big part in that lander platform," said Chris Draper, head of Mars programmes at Airbus.
"Knowing these guys as well as I do, I'm pleased we're part of it."
Since their earlier departure NASA has since rejoined the partnership to provide the rocket that will carry the rover to Mars.
It's due to launch in 2028 and if all goes to plan, Rosalind Franklin could be drilling into the surface of Mars looking for evidence of life by late 2030.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ITV News
5 hours ago
- ITV News
'In 40 seconds, everything was gone': The Swiss village destroyed by climate change
Sometimes climate change is hard to visualise, but not the disaster that struck the Swiss alpine village of Blatten on May 28. In the middle of the afternoon a glacier that had stood above the village for centuries broke free from the mountainside and crashed down onto Blatten. The Swiss authorities had seen in coming and evacuated the inhabitants 10 days earlier – only one person is missing, which is both miraculous and a tribute to Swiss engineering. But the 300 people who lived there lost everything. Daniel Ritler had lived all his life in Blatten. The restaurant and delicatessen he ran with his wife Karin now lie under millions of tons of rock and mud, themselves invisible under millions of gallons of water. 'The whole thing happened within 40 seconds. In 40 seconds, everything was gone. Houses that were built in 15 and 16 centuries were buried, all buried', he told me. The sheep Daniel kept in the pristine alpine pastures above the village also survived, but whether they or the Ritlers will even be able to return is uncertain, perhaps even unlikely. First the geology of the Lotschental valley must stabilise, and that itself could take many years. This disaster was not caused solely by climate change – erosion and minor earthquakes in these mountains also played their part – but there's little doubt that without the significant warming the Alps have seen in the last few decades it wouldn't have happened. On current trends, glaciologists confidently predict that by the end of his century, 2100, there will be no more glaciers in Switzerland. This doesn't just mean a lot of melt-water: the ice in a glacier binds together huge quantities of mud and scree and rock, so when the ice melts much more than water comes down a mountainside. Professor Stuart Lane, a British glaciologist who lives in these mountains, and teaches at the University of Lausanne, says that as good as Swiss engineering may be, you cannot engineer away a problem as big as the one that hit Blatten. Indeed, difficult decisions may have to be taken about moving whole towns or villages out of the way of collapsing valley walls. 'The only way you can get a glacier back is by increasing snow in winter and reducing ice melt in summer', he said. 'So only with a reversion to the climate of 50-60 years ago will you see glaciers come back again'. And you don't have to be a top scientist to know how unlikely that is.
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- The Guardian
AI can ‘level up' opportunities for dyslexic children, says UK tech secretary
Artificial intelligence should be deployed to 'level up' opportunities for dyslexic children, according to the UK science and technology secretary, Peter Kyle, who warned there is currently insufficient human capacity to help people with the learning difficulty. Kyle, who is dyslexic and uses AI to support his work, said the government should carefully look at 'how AI can transform education and help us assess and understand a young person's abilities into the future'. He spoke as the TV chef Jamie Oliver, who is also dyslexic, launched a campaign calling for improved teacher training on dyslexia and earlier screening of children to detect the condition sooner. About 6 million people in the UK are estimated to live with dyslexia, which primarily affects reading and writing skills. Kyle told the Guardian he has felt 'quite emotional' when seeing AI technology used to help young people learn with 'incredible empathy, encouragement and knowledge'. 'I have already seen how GPTs and other [AI] services have helped me,' said Kyle, who was last month mooted in press reports as a potential future education secretary. 'AI gets to know you. AI gets to know how you ask questions and how you think. It fits in around your own individual learning characteristics. AI is an incredible tutor, so there is no question that AI deployed wisely and safely, not just in education but in a young person's life, can have an incredible levelling-up opportunity.' He said the current problem was that 'we don't have enough human capacity to give dyslexics all of the skilled and specialist support that is unique to the individual characteristics of dyslexics'. He stopped short of arguing AI technology should be allowed to support dyslexic children in exams, where they perform significantly worse in key GCSEs. About 52% of children without any special education needs achieved a grade 5 or above in English and maths last year, compared with 22% among children with a specific learning difficulty, which includes dyslexia. 'We are currently reviewing the curriculum and we have to very carefully look at how AI can transform education and help us assess and understand a young person's abilities into the future,' he said. 'But right now I think we have a really robust exam system. It's very good at judging a young person's potential.' Kay Carter, the chief executive of the Dyslexia Association, said AI is already levelling the playing field for dyslexic students. If AI can manage tasks such as memorising facts and rapid recall of information, 'the focus [of education] may shift to problem-solving [and] critical thinking, talents which some of those with dyslexia naturally excel at,' she said. But she cautioned that AI is not to be a replacement for good teaching but 'allows dyslexic students better access to their own learning'. Kyle was speaking at London Tech Week, where he also addressed the row between the government and parts of the creative industries over the use of copyrighted content for training AI models. Elton John last month called Kyle 'a bit of a moron' after ministers pushed back against a campaign for the new data bill to provide greater protections for creatives. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'I am always available to meet with Elton John and anyone else,' Kyle said. 'I have met with Björn [Ulvaeus] from Abba and publishers, I have spoken to small creatives.' Kyle said the data bill, which is currently rallying back and forth between MPs and peers, was 'totally not suitable' to legislate on AI using copyrighted material. The Guardian reported last week that the government has decided to introduce a 'comprehensive' AI bill in the next parliamentary session to address concerns about issues including safety and copyright. 'I will set up working groups the very second the data bill is through parliament so I can begin the rapid process towards legislation,' he said.
Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Here's how you'll be able to book a self-driving Uber from next year
Britons wanting to book a taxi will soon be able to hail an autonomous car as the Government fast-tracks self-driving vehicle pilots. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirmed the Government will introduce self-driving commercial pilots on England's roads from Spring 2026, with firms able to pilot small scale 'taxi -and bus-like' services without a safety driver for the first time. It is likely these will be available to members of the public to book via an app. Uber has already confirmed its teaming up with Microsoft-backed AI partner Wayve to bring driverless ride-hailing to London next year. The announcement has been welcomed by the automotive industry and mobility groups as 'great news' with the Government estimating it will directly help create around 38,000 jobs, make roads safer and keep the UK among the 'world leaders in new technology'. The advancement is the first step in a wider rollout of self-driving cars which will see the Automated Vehicles (AV) Act become law from the second half of 2027. It follows Labour's delays to autonomous driving announced last month, when access to UK roads by unmanned vehicles was pushed back from 2026 to 2027. Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: 'We can't afford to take a back seat on AI, unless it's on a self-driving bus. It's great to see the UK storming ahead as a global leader in using this technology - making our roads safer, travel easier and driving growth by spurring innovation across the country.' Self-driving vehicle trials have been underway in the UK since January 2015 with British firms Wayve and Oxa at the forefront of breakthroughs, recently securing a record-breaking investment of over £741 million ($1 billion), as well as announcing partnerships with Nissan and Uber. Its self-driving vehicles are already used at Heathrow Airport to improve baggage handling. Last month Labour delayed the introduction of legislation for driverless vehicles, with the Department for Transport confirmed provisions for safety driver-less AV pilots have been pushed back to 'the second half of 2027' at the earliest - a year later than the Tory Government had promised. The DfT said it was 'exploring options for short-term trials and pilots'. Today the Government has reiterated that 'innovation, world-leading regulation and road safety is at the forefront' of the pilots with s elf-driving vehicles aiming to reduce human error on the roads – which contribute to 88 per cent of all collisions. The AV Act will require self-driving vehicles to achieve a level of safety at least as high as competent and careful human drivers, and must undergo vigorous tests before being allowed on our roads. Because AVs have faster reaction times than humans, and are trained on real-world incidents, never get distracted or tired, and won't drink or drive, they can help reduce deaths and injuries caused by road collisions. In fact, the SMMT's Connected and Automated Mobility report found that AVs have the potential to save 3,900 lives and avert 60,000 serious collisions by 2040. Arun Srinivasan, Chair of RoadSafe, said, 'Collision avoidance and advanced driver assistance systems have already proved to be vital in reducing casualties and technology has further potential to prevent crashes. 'Developing and demonstrating the next generation of connected safety technologies is an essential step in achieving a shared vision of roads without fatalities or serious injuries. 'This initiative forms an important step in accelerating the development, deployment and adoption of self-driving vehicles as part of a strategic approach to enabling safe, accessible mobility on our roads.' The Government has also estimated that the speed up of AV tech will add £42bn to the UK economy by 2035, but the SMMT goes further predicting self-driving vehicles have the potential economic benefits as high as £66bn and an estimated additional 342,000 jobs by 2040. Importantly, AVs offer a wider array of accessible mobility solutions to disabled and older people. Andrew Miller, chief executive of Motability Operations, said, 'Automated vehicles have the potential to be transformative. Implementing this technology on the UK's roads could help our disabled customers be better connected to work, education, healthcare and wider society. 'We welcome this announcement, which is an important step in bringing automated vehicles a step closer, and we will work with the sector to ensure that when the time comes the transition to automated vehicles is smooth for our customers.' Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: 'Pilot rollout of commercial self-driving services from next year will widen public access to mobility, while the consultation will ensure the technology is deployed in a safe and responsible way. 'These latest measures will help Britain remain a world leader in the development and introduction of self-driving vehicles, a manifest application of AI at its finest.' Do people actually want self-driving cars? A YouGov survey of 4,087 Britons conducted in May found that only three per cent of the public said they would prefer being transported by a self-driving car over one piloted by a human driver. Two in five said they would want to be driven by another person, and half would rather do the driving themselves. While there is little preference for the driverless car option across social groups, the poll identified a marked difference in the driver versus passenger preference; while most men and over 25s (51 per cent and 64 per cent respectively) would prefer to at the controls, these figures fall to just 39 per cent among women and 26 per cent for 18-24 year olds. Concerns regarding self-driving vehicles likely result for the number of high-profile accidents - sometimes fatal - and near misses involving autonomous cars in the US.
