ESA drop-tests a full-scale mock-up of the ExoMars landing platform

European Space Agency/ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover

Teams from Thales Alenia Space and Airbus spent over a month dropping a full-scale structural model of the Rosalind Franklin landing platform onto different surfaces. The tests check that the legs absorb touchdown and that sensors shut the engines off at the right moment, neither too early nor too late.

• Launch is targeted for late 2028 from Kennedy Space Center, arriving at Mars in 2030.
• Airbus UK won a £150M contract in 2025 to finish the landing platform.
• Further tests were planned to simulate angled landings on a moving sledge.