The Mars Yard Test Area at Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage is the location for a very special test: European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Tim Peake drives the rover prototype “Bridget” from the International Space Station (ISS).
This experiment is part of the ESA METERON programme (Multi-Purpose End-To-End Robotic Operation Network) which is validating autonomous and real-time telerobotic operations from space to ground. The goal is to understand and develop the technologies needed for future space exploration missions, and look at how humans and robotics can work together. To test various scenarios and to validate the related technologies, robots and rovers on Earth will be controlled from the ISS with haptic feedback and video footage.
