Thales Alenia Space receives the 522 million contract to relaunch Exomars

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With the assignment by the European Space Agency to Thales Alenia Space of a contract worth a total of 522 million, the European ExoMars 2028 mission restarts. The company – made up of 67% by the French Thales and 33% by Leonardo – is a series of jobs were initially assigned to the Russians. The Ukrainian crisis and the war between Russia and Ukraine have reshuffled the cards within the European mission looking to the red planet.

The contract signed with ESA is divided into tranches, for the continuation of the activities necessary for the completion of the ExoMars 2028 mission. The contract includes the construction of the Entry, Descent and Landing Module (EDLM) on Mars and the maintenance and reconfiguration activities of the vehicles already built for the 2022 mission. The work will in most cases be carried out in the Thales Alenia Space plant in Turin.

The mission, scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center between October and December 2028, aims to search for traces of life on the surface of Mars. Led by the European Space Agency, with the important contribution of the American space agency NASA and with the support of the Italian Space Agency, the ExoMars 2028 mission will deliver a European rover capable of autonomous driving on the surface of the red planet.

Scheduled to reach Mars in 2030 following a long journey, the rover, equipped with a drill developed by Leonardo at the Nerviano (Milan) plant, will collect soil samples by drilling into the Martian soil, up to 2 meters deep. It will analyze their chemical, physical and biological properties using its analytical laboratory developed by Thales Alenia Space.

The Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), protagonist of the first part of the ExoMars mission, built as prime contractor by Thales Alenia Space, is active in orbit around Mars, with the task of detecting trace gases in the Martian atmosphere, in particular methane. The TGO probe, which plays a key role in understanding potential indicators of life on Mars, also continues to transmit the majority of data, including that of NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, making a notable contribution to ongoing scientific research.