British rover sent to Mars on mission to discover humans' ancient ancestors

A British-constructed Mars rover is poised to become the first spacecraft to bore two metres beneath the Martian surface in search of ancient biological traces.The ExoMars "Rosalind Franklin" rover, manufactured in Stevenage by Airbus for the European Space Agency, is due to launch in 2028, with a planned arrival on Mars in 2030.Scientists working on the mission believe that if they find life on Mars, it could share a common origin with terrestrial organisms, a concept known as panspermia. Martian life might even have given rise to our own. TRENDING Stories Videos Your Say Susanne Schwenzer, professor of planetary mineralogy at the Open University and an interdisciplinary scientist on the mission, said: "If life is the same there, it...

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