Mini Version of Mars Designed to Test Rover on Earth

Airbus Defence and Space unveiled a start-of-art Mars Yard at its Stevenage site, Thursday. The test area is essentially a large sand box designed to mimic conditions on the Red Planet.

Mars Yard measures 30meters by 13meters and has 300 tonnes of sand. The facility will help ExoMars, Europe's first Mars rover, to get a feel of the terrain of Red Planet, according to the Telegraph. The rover is due for launch in 2018.

The test yard even has doors, walls and ceiling painted reddish-brown. The cost of building the giant sand box was about £500,000 ($832,000), CNN reported.

"A facility like this enables us to develop sophisticated navigation systems to 'teach' Mars rovers how to drive autonomously across the Red Planet. This will be a fantastic resource for the ExoMars rover team and for future missions to come," Alvaro Giménez, Director of Science and Robotic Exploration at the European Space Agency, said in a statement.

Scientists will use the Yard until the launch of the rover. Airbus might keep the facility open even after the launch to address any problem by mimicking Martian conditions on  earth

European Mars rover called Bryan was also unveiled at the Mars Yard Thursday, according to The Associated Press. The rover is designed to drill the Martian surface to search for traces of life.

The ambitious Mars program by ESA comprises of two main missions. First, ESA will demonstrate that it is capable of launching an orbiter and completing a landing module. The second mission features a rover that could reach Mars and get soil samples back to earth by 2020's.

In related news, a research team in Spain recently created a chamber called MARTE that mimics conditions on Mars. The test chamber can adjust temperature and pressure to mimic environmental conditions on the Red Planet.