\tScience & Exploration<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t21\/01\/2026
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To land on the right foot on the Red Planet, European engineers have been dropping a skeleton of the four-legged ExoMars descent module at various speeds and heights on simulated martian surfaces.<\/p>\n
The landing legs are crucial gear for the safe touchdown of ESA\u2019s ExoMars<\/a> Rosalind Franklin rover mission in 2030, alongside parachutes and engines that will slow the spacecraft\u2019s descent onto Mars.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n For over a month, Thales Alenia Space and Airbus teams ran dozens of vertical drops using a full-scale model of the landing platform<\/a> at the ALTEC facilities in Turin, Italy. While Thales Alenia Space is the industrial lead of the mission, Airbus provides the landing platform and ALTEC offers technical support.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\tLegs made for a Mars landing The lightweight, deployable legs are interconnected and equipped with shock absorbers to withstand impact. During the test campaign, the four legs replicated the structure and dimensions of those that will fly to Mars. \u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n Considering every possible landing scenario, teams are preparing for what would happen if the spacecraft touched down at an angle or on top of a rock.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe last thing you want is for the platform to tip over when it reaches the martian surface. These tests will confirm its stability at landing,\u201d says Benjamin Rasse, ESA\u2019s team leader for the ExoMars descent module.<\/p>\n \tSensing the ground\u202f <\/p>\n Another goal of the campaign is to verify the performance of the touchdown sensors. A system installed in all four legs detects when the spacecraft approaches the surface and triggers the shutdown of the descent engines after a soft landing. \u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
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