Summary
ESA, Airbus and European partners will test the six-wheeled Charlie rover prototype in Spain on 1 October 2026. The campaign will assess remote operations, autonomous navigation and simulated scientific activities relevant to ESA’s Rosalind Franklin Mars mission.
ESA, Airbus and European partners will conduct field trials of a six-wheeled Mars rover prototype in Spain on 1 October 2026, testing technologies and operating procedures intended for ESA’s ExoMars Rosalind Franklin mission.
The trials will take place in the Tabernas desert near Almería. The prototype, known as Charlie, will be operated remotely from the Rover Operations Control Centre in Turin, Italy, through a satellite link. ESA has invited media representatives to attend the campaign, which is scheduled to run from 30 September to 2 October.
Testing remote rover operations
The Tabernas campaign is designed to test more than the rover’s ability to move across desert terrain. Teams will validate Charlie’s latest autonomous navigation system while also rehearsing operations relevant to a future Mars mission.
Autonomous navigation allows a rover to perform parts of the movement-planning process without requiring every driving action to be issued manually. In a planetary mission, this capability can support operations when communication with Earth is limited or when the terrain requires local assessment. The ESA announcement does not provide performance results for the navigation system, but identifies its validation as a central objective of the field trials.
Operating Charlie from Turin will also allow the teams to practise the division of work between a rover in the field and a control centre located elsewhere. The satellite link is intended to reproduce the remote operating arrangement needed for planetary exploration more closely than a locally controlled demonstration would.
Rehearsing Rosalind Franklin’s science activities
The campaign will simulate scientific activities that ESA’s Rosalind Franklin rover is expected to perform after landing on Mars in 2030. Those activities are part of the mission’s search for evidence of past or present life on Mars.
The Spanish exercise is therefore an operational and technology test rather than the Mars mission itself. It uses a terrestrial rover prototype and a desert environment to rehearse procedures before the planned mission. The field trials can help teams practise how rover movement, autonomous navigation and scientific tasks are coordinated, while the actual mission will face the distinct conditions of Mars.
ESA says the campaign will involve experts from the agency, Airbus and European research teams. Journalists attending the programme will be able to observe and film rover operations and interview members of the teams involved.
The media registration deadline is 17:00 CEST on 23 September 2026. Places are limited, and ESA says a reserve list may be created if cancellations occur. Further programme details will be provided to confirmed participants.