ExoMars Test Rover Amalia Drives off the Landing Platform

A long-awaited moment in the ExoMars mission will be when ESA’s Rosalind Franklin rover leaves the landing platform, Kazachok, and drives onto the martian soil for the first time. The egress is a carefully choreographed move that engineers are rehearsing on Earth. Rosalind’s twin on Earth, known as Amalia, has successfully left the platform in a Mars terrain simulator at the ALTEC premises in Turin. The test model borrows its name from renowned astrophysicist Professor Amalia Ercoli Finzi. Amalia was the first woman to graduate in aeronautical engineering in Italy, and she strongly pushed for the development of the ExoMars drill already 20 years ago. While the driving during these exercises takes about 15 minutes, the whole egress is a long and crucial operation that will last a few martian days. After landing, the rover will be busy for over a week unfolding its wheels and deploying the mast, among other checkouts. The landing pla