Airbus Defence and Space
Airbus's defence and space division; built ESA's Rosalind Franklin ExoMars rover in Stevenage and is designing its lander platform for a planned 2028 launch.
Airbus Defence and Space is the defence and space division of Airbus SE. Its space business designs and delivers spacecraft and satellite systems for science, exploration, telecommunications, navigation and Earth observation (for example Sentinel-2 and MetOp), together with ground systems, space equipment and customer support across programme lifecycles. In exploration, Airbus built the European Service Module for NASA's Orion spacecraft used on Artemis II, contributed to ESA's JUICE mission to Jupiter, and operates Bartolomeo, an external payload platform on the International Space Station; Airbus describes its exploration activity as designing and delivering spacecraft, robots, scientific experiment services and space stations.
The division's main robotics programme is Europe's first planetary rover, ESA's Rosalind Franklin ExoMars rover. Airbus designed and built the rover vehicle in its bio-burden cleanroom in Stevenage, UK, including its autonomous navigation system, which lets the rover travel between science sites much faster than real-time driving from Earth. The rover carries nine instruments and a drill (supplied by Leonardo) that reaches about two metres below the Martian surface, where samples are shielded from radiation, to search for signs of past or present life. Airbus shipped the rover from Stevenage to Toulouse for environmental testing in August 2019 and delivered it to mission prime Thales Alenia Space that year. After the original 2022 launch was cancelled following the Russia-Ukraine conflict, ESA and Thales Alenia Space selected Airbus in March 2025 to design the mechanical, thermal and propulsion systems of a new European landing platform, including the landing structure, the braking propulsion system, the landing gear and two egress ramps on opposite sides.
The lander must slow from about 45 m/s under parachute to under 3 m/s before touchdown. A new software mode will let the rover switch quickly to autonomous operation after landing. Launch is planned for 2028 on a NASA-supplied launcher, with landing in 2030. Airbus's Stevenage teams have built more than 120 propulsion systems for over 90 spacecraft.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
Rosalind Franklin ExoMars Rover
- Model: ExoMars rover
- Launch Year: 2019
ESA's Mars rover with autonomous navigation and a 2 m drill, designed and built by Airbus in Stevenage.
ExoMars Lander Platform
European Mars landing platform with braking propulsion, landing gear and twin rover egress ramps.
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Company Facts
Founded
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Manufacturer
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Primary Region
Europe
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Subsidiary / Acquired
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