A three-metre ramp, made of amunimium, is also space technology

The Polish company Astronika has completed two ramps for a Mars mission. The pair of ramps have now been officially approved for their space journey.

These ramps were made for the lander that will carry the European Space Agency’s Rosalind Franklin rover to the surface of the red planet. The rover will eventually roll down these ramps at a 20-degree angle from the lander to the planet’s surface.

The ramps are a good example of how space technology sometimes involves ordinary metalwork—though the criteria, precision, and documentation are stricter than “normal.”

As things stand, ESA’s much-delayed Mars rover, due to various reasons, is scheduled to launch in 2028 and arrive on Mars in 2030.

Originally, the rover was set to launch in 2020, but technical issues and the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the mission.

The mission was initially planned in collaboration with Russia, with the lander carrying the rover to Mars’ surface being Russian-made. After Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, cooperation was halted, and European alternatives had to be found for Russia’s contributions.

In 2024, ESA signed an agreement with Thales Alenia Space to replace Russian components with European ones, and the company commissioned Airbus to build the lander. Airbus, in turn, ordered various components from subcontractors, including the ramps, which were commissioned from the Polish company Astronika.