The goal is to help confirm if ancient life has ever existed on the Red Planet by carrying back samples collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover.
It’s an ambitious, multi-billion dollar project, according to recently announced plans. “This satellite that Airbus will build — I like to call it ‘the first interplanetary cargo ship’, because that’s what it will be doing,” David Parker, the director of human and robotic exploration at the European Space Agency (ESA), told the BBC. “It’s designed to carry cargo between Mars and Earth.”
“This is not just twice as difficult as any typical Mars mission; it’s twice squared — when you think about the complexity involved”, he added .
