Mars rovers touch down in Lucerne

Today the Swiss Museum of Transport is opening its new space exhibition to the public. Visitors can learn about the past and the future of space travel and walk through the landscape of our neighbor planet Mars. However, they are not alone in this scenery.

No air to breathe, temperatures as low as minus 120 degrees Celsius, and a wasteland of rock and dust – Mars is anything but a nice place to stay. Nevertheless we want to send people there by 2030.

The quicker option is a visit to the Swiss Museum of Transport. Here visitors are now able to get an impression of our neighbor planet – entirely without risk. Today the most-visited museum in the country is opening a new space exhibition that includes a Mars landscape. On 70 square meters, information on Mars and the past robot missions is presented. The exhibits include three 1:1 scale models of the Mars rovers Sojourner, Opportunity, and ExoMars.

The next Mars missions are already planned

All three models were built by the Swiss drive specialist maxon motor from Obwalden. The company built the entire Mars landscape as part of their partnership with the Museum of Transport. The company is known worldwide for its involvement in the rover missions. maxon products are on board each time NASA sends a vehicle to the Red Planet. The next rover, Mars 2020, is no exception. The same is true for the ExoMars rover, a project of the European Space Agency (ESA). It is also scheduled to launch in 2020 and has more than 50 drives made in Obwalden on board. Some modules were completely developed and assembled by maxon in Obwalden. They drive the vehicle and are in charge of the steering. Additional motors are used in the drill head, the analysis unit, and the camera head.

Please see here for more information on the upcoming ExoMars mission and NASA's previous Mars rovers (in English). For more information on the new space exhibition, please visit the website of the Swiss Museum of Transport.

© 2016 by maxon precision motors, inc.