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(CNN) - What is the first stop for a rover destined to look for signs of life on the red planet? Toulouse, in France, apparently.
Of course, this is not really part of the nine-month ExoMars rover trip from the European Space Agency (ESA) to Mars, but it is where the vehicle will receive crucial tests, before leaving for space.
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The first planetary rover in Europe, called "Rosalind Franklin", is already built and has taken its next step towards space travel. Airbus engineers from the United Kingdom exhibited the finished vehicle, scheduled to launch in July 2020, before sending it on its journey.
The rover has a clear mission: to discover if there is life on Mars.
"Seeing the Rosalind Franklin rover finally leave Airbus in Stevenage is a great moment, and I would like to thank all the teams involved for their efforts to make this happen," said Colin Paynter, managing director of Airbus Defense and Space UK.
The rover itself is a complicated combination of instruments, all tuned to help scientists make a step-by-step exploration of the Martian surface.
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It is equipped with a 2 meter drill to help dig beneath the surface of Mars and discover parts of the planet unaffected by radiation. It is believed that the surface of Mars is very radioactive, which means that life is unlikely to be found there.
And last week, they adjusted their eyes to rover, or more precisely, the cameras that will help the vehicle to see and look for signs of life.
The central design of the panoramic camera system called PanCam came from a team at University College London (UCL), which told CNN that their hard work was actually "surprisingly simple."
However, they had to overcome many challenges to design three cameras capable of resisting a trip to Mars.
If radiation and distance are not a sufficient concern, temperatures on Mars can drop to -130 degrees C during the night and rise to 20 ° C during the day, according to Mary Carter, Pan-Cam project manager.
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In Toulouse, the rover will be tested to ensure that it can survive its launch from Earth next summer and the extreme weather conditions of Mars when it lands on the planet in March 2021.
The United Kingdom Space Agency, the second largest European contributor to the ExoMars mission, having invested $ 318 million, praised the completion of the rover.
"While we deliver the rover to France for the final test, we must celebrate the enormous efforts of the hundreds of people across the UK who have participated in the design and construction of the rover and its instruments," said Dr. Graham Turnock, Executive President of the United Kingdom Space Agency.
While the rover is only moving between European countries now, there is a real anticipation that discoveries can be made when it eventually makes the trip to another planet.
"We are eager to complete the final rounds of testing before the rover is declared ready for the flight and locked inside the landing platform and the descent module that will take you safely to the surface of Mars," said Dr David Parker, director of Human and robotic exploration at the European Space Agency.
Mars