The European Space Agency (ESA) will be the first to utilize the new indoor Mars surface chamber and will test out the exploration rover they plan to launch in 2018.
According to BBC News, the ExoMars rover will test out its systems in the basketball-court-sized chamber for a mission in which it will search for signs of past and present life on the Red Planet. The U.K.'s division of Airbus Defense and Space is set to assemble the six-wheel vehicle with parts from all over Europe.
Like NASA's Curiosity rover, ExoMars will have a set destination to travel to. Because of the distance from Mars to Earth, the rover cannot receive commands until tens of minutes after ground control gives it. The "Mars yard" is helping ESA scientists develop algorithms to work out the best and smoothest possible route for the rover.
"We need to verify the performance, to check that the algorithms and the processes that we're using will actually work - will be fit for purpose to deal with the conditions and obstacles we expect to find on Mars," Airbus' Dr. Ralph Cordey told BBC News.
BBC News previously reported the ExoMars Landing Site Selection Working Group was narrowing down the list of possible spots to place the rover. They have released their "longlist" of possible landing sites.
Both developments are a good sign that the ESA is moving toward putting a rover on Mars, but a final decision on a landing site and a backup option is not expected until 2017.
"The ExoMars rover represents the best of British high-value manufacturing," ESA's Vince Cable said in a press release. "The technologies developed as part of the programme, such as autonomous navigation systems, new welding materials and techniques, will also have real impacts on other sectors, helping them stay on the cutting edge.
"Not only is it hugely exciting that Europe's next mission to Mars will be British-built, but it is incredibly rewarding to see the benefits of our investment in the European Space Agency creating jobs here in the UK."
