IDEFIX

The Franco-German rover IDEFIX will land on the Martian moon Phobos as part of the MMX mission in order to explore its surface directly.

IDEFIX was completed in July 2023 and successfully completed extensive space qualification tests, including with regard to its functions and resistance to vibrations during rocket launches and the extreme temperature fluctuations on Phobos.

The IDEFIX rover, built in collaboration with the French space agency CNES, is part of the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, which will explore both Martian moons under the leadership of the Japanese space agency JAXA. On the DLR side, the cross-institute project is being led by the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics.

The special feature of this rover for the MMX mission is its extremely compact design. IDEFIX essentially has all the elements of a fully-fledged scientific rover, but with its highly integrated design it only weighs 25 kilograms. This is crucial if it is to survive the impact on Phobos unscathed.

On the surface of Phobos, IDEFIX searches for and analyses scientifically interesting areas of Phobos. In doing so, the rover is breaking new technical ground, as never before has an exploration vehicle with wheels travelled on a celestial body that has less than a thousandth of the Earth's gravitational pull.

News

Loading

Kontakt

Dr. Markus Grebenstein

Abteilungsleiter
Institut für Robotik und Mechatronik
Mechatronische Systeme
Münchener Straße 20, 82234 Oberpfaffenhofen-Weßling