2023-06-20 15:42:46
Space
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Mars, in the footsteps of robots dossierAt the Paris Air Show, Cnes and its German and Japanese counterparts signed a collaboration agreement for the MMX mission which aims to bring back samples from Phobos, and unveiled the name of the machine that will tread his ground.
He’s small, cute, nimble, and his name will be… Idefix. The National Center for Space Studies (Cnes) unveiled this Tuesday, June 20 the name of the rover which will tread the dust on Phobos, one of the moons of Mars, in a few months. The first name of the little robot has the advantage of being funny, of making reference to the dog of Asterix to underline the important French participation in this space mission, and of pronouncing easily in German and in Japanese, language of the two other countries partners.
The heads of the three space agencies were gathered around the same table, at the Paris Air Show, to sign a tripartite agreement sealing their collaboration: Hiroshi Yamakawa, president of Jaxa (the Japanese space agency), Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla, CEO of the DLR (the German space agency), and Philippe Baptiste, CEO of Cnes, who explained to the non-French-speaking public that “Idefix” evokes determination in our language (a bit like NASA’s Martian rover is called Perseverance) .
Coping with “low gravity”
The microwave-sized rover entered its manufacturing phase in Bremen, Germany, last year. The first step was to assemble the chassis, with a locomotion system flexible enough to adapt to the rugged landscape of Phobos. “We do not know the details on the surface of this star before we set foot on it”,
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