Engineers from the largest Norwegian independent research organization SINTEF spoke about work on a prototype probe that could be used during a future ESA Mars mission. A message describing the robot appeared on the organization's website.

The main task of the robotic snake will be to collect samples in those corners of the Red Planet that are inaccessible to “ordinary” rovers equipped with wheels. It is assumed that the probe will work in tandem with the rover, moving away from it as needed and returning back. In this case, the degree of autonomy of the device can be different: it can be permanently connected to the rover by a control wire or disconnected while performing tasks. SINTEF engineers are currently considering both alternatives, and they promise to provide more specific characteristics of the prototype by December 2013. SINTEF already has several prototypes of snake-like robots, one of which, WheeKo , was presented to the public in 2009.

The European Space Agency, which commissioned the research, is currently developing a rover as part of the Exomars project jointly with Roscosmos . According to official plans, the launch of the descent module should take place in 2018, and two years before that the orbital station will go to Mars. It is not yet clear whether the robotic probe being developed by the Norwegian group will be included in the lander under the ExoMars program, or whether these developments will only be used in subsequent missions.

The future European Mars rover could have a robotic snake as a companion.