A robotic arm developed by ESA will bring samples collected on Mars back to Earth

Aug. 22 () –

The European Space Agency (ESA) will develop a robot, known as Sample Transfer Arm (STA, for its acronym in English) which, according to experts, “will play a crucial role in the success of the Mars sample collection campaign“.

It will be part of the joint mission of ESA itself and NASA that aims to bring Martian samples to the best laboratories by 2033.

The ESA has explained that this robotic arm will land on Mars to retrieve the sample tubes that NASA’s Perseverance rover has been collecting on its mission. This process, as the agency has pointed out, will do so thanks to its ability to “see”, “feel” and “make autonomous decisions”.

Its architecture mimics that of a human arm, with a shoulder, elbow and wrist, and has its own built-in ‘brain’ and ‘eyes’. In this way, the robot can carry out a wide range of movements with seven degrees of freedom, according to the ESA.

In the same way, he highlighted the “level of skill” that this robot has that “is able to extract the tubes from the rover, pick them up from the Martian soil, put them in a container and close the lid before taking off from Mars“.

In addition, it contains two cameras and a myriad of sensors that allow it to “decide the best course of action and coordinate the corresponding movements”.

AN “INCREDIBLE FEAT”

Once the robot closes the lid of the container, the Martian samples will be launched to rendezvous with ESA’s Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) and the material will head back to Earth.

ESA’s Director of Human and Robotic Exploration, David Parker, explained that “Handling the valuable Martian samples and preparing them for shipment on an extraordinary journey from Mars to Earth represents an incredible feat.“.

In addition, he stressed that, from the creation of this arm – by the Italian company Leonardo – to its first trips to Mars, the project is “a testimony to the immense experience and technical knowledge” that Europe has. In fact, he has described this robot as “one of the most valuable jewels of space robotics”.

PARTICIPATION OF SPAIN

ESA has signed this Monday at the Farnborough International Air Show a contract with Leonardo to design, manufacture, integrate and test the Sample Transfer Arm for the Mars sample collection program.

Leonardo heads a European industrial consortium made up of companies from Spain, France, Romania, Denmark, Greece, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

The Italian Space Agency (ASI) has supported the project from the beginning. “Our investments allow us today to consolidate the leading role that Italy will have in the exploration of Mars and, in particular, in the Mars sample return program“, explained the president of the agency, Giorgio Saccoccia.

“This contract reinforces our leadership in space robotics, an important technology for planetary exploration and orbital operations,” added Gabriele Pieralli, general manager of Leonardo’s Electronics division.

The European companies participating alongside Leonardo in the construction of the arm are AVS Added Value Solutions (Spain), ALTER Technology (France), COMOTI (Romania), the Danish Technological Institute (Denmark), EMTech Space (Greece), GMV Aerospace & Defense SAU (Spain), GMV Innovating Solution (Romania), Maxon (Switzerland), SAB Aerospace sro (Czech Republic) and 3D PLUS (France).