Planetary rover destined for missions on the Moon or Mars undergoes testing in Milton Keynes

A planetary rover potentially destined for missions on the moon or Mars has been put through its paces at a quarry in Milton Keynes.

The Sample Fetch Rover (SFR), known as Anon, was intended to collect sample tubes left on the surface of Mars by Perseverance.

But earlier this year Nasa and the European Space Agency (ESA) announced the rover would no longer be needed for this work, as Perseverance – which landed on the red planet in February 2021 – is already collecting samples from the planet.

However, Airbus engineers who have been working on the SFR since 2018 are still putting the machine through its paces.

Part of that development process includes quarry testing, which provides a unique landscape to test all the rover's systems simultaneously for the first time.

Ben Dobke, Airbus project manager, said: "Even though the mission may have faded away, the core technology is still ready and able to go, and this is the kind of the final step in proving that it works.

"With the Artemis programme happening at the end of the decade, the focus has started shifting towards the moon.

"So any rovers or autonomous vehicles on the Moon, this software can certainly be applied to that in the future."

The Artemis mission's long-term goal is to set up a permanent base camp on the Moon and facilitate human missions to Mars.

While the rover was destined to travel to Mars, experts have suggested its technology could be useful for several purposes, including building habitats on the moon.

In order for Anon to be used in future Moon programmes, engineers need to consider temperatures on the lunar surface and make sure the rover's key systems will work in the lack of atmosphere.

They will also have to make sure the SFR can be powered up after spending 14 nights essentially in sleep mode because of the cold temperatures when in darkness.

The prototype has been designed to operate six times faster than the ExoMars rover, also known as Rosalind Franklin, which is currently exploring the red planet.