Efforts to Discover Life on the Red Planet; Airbus Tests Initial Mars Rovers in Eastern Britain's Mines

In the ongoing efforts of researchers to discover life on the Red Planet, the European aerospace company Airbus tested the first samples of its Mars rovers in the mines of Bedfordshire in eastern Britain. According to The Guardian, these two rovers are named 'Cody' and 'Charlie'. Cody is a four-wheeled rover equipped with navigation cameras and a robotic arm that can collect rock samples and place them in small tubes without human operator assistance. Charlie is a six-wheeled robot with a suspension system that can navigate obstacles twice the diameter of its wheels without getting stuck or tipping over. Pantelis Polakis, one of the researchers in this group, explained why these rovers are being tested in terrestrial mines: 'The ability to conduct field tests is a very important part of research, and performing robotic missions largely depends on simulating and interacting with the environment of the target planet.' Chris Draper, the Mars rover program manager at Airbus, stated, 'We want to go from Earth to the Moon and from the Moon to Mars.' He added, 'The Moon is a stepping stone to reach Mars. Rovers can really support the transport of supplies at the base and assist astronauts in their daily activities, and then, once we can prove we can do this on the Moon, we will do the same on Mars.' While Europe is trying to achieve capabilities for exploring life on Mars, NASA announced in the spring of 2022 that the Perseverance rover, which is exploring the surface of the Red Planet, has reached the delta of one of its rivers and is collecting rock samples from the area to find signs of life in the rocks of the river delta and surrounding stones. The 'Perseverance' and 'Curiosity' rovers have been examining the rock layers of Mars for years, looking for clues about the planet's transformation from a relatively warm and wet world to a cold and desert-like planet.