Ground control to Major Tim: Brit astronaut to pilot Rover from space

A Mars Rover - designed and built in Stevenage - is undergoing final testing ahead of a special experiment next month.

Bruno belongs to a "family" of three rover prototypes - the others are namedBridget and Bryan - which are testing the last word in planetary navigationtechnology.

They've been built by Airbus Defence and Space in the town.

In two years time a so far nameless six-wheeled machine with a "brain"similar to Bruno's will be launched to the Red Planet.

There it will look for signs of life in soil samples from six feet below thearid Martian surface and take breathtaking colour images of the surroundinglandscape.

As the ExoMars orbiter hurtles towards Mars at 20,500mph (33,000kph) after its launch on March 14, scientists and engineers are gearing up to start work on the rover that will go into space.

The rover has one navigational weakness, however - it can get confused byshadows.

Next month British astronaut Major Tim Peake, orbiting the Earth as part of the crew of the International Space Station will take part in a pioneering experiment that will see him operate Bruno remotely from space.

Major Peake will be asked to drive the rover into a "cave" - simulated by plunging half the Mars sandpit into darkness.

Steering the machine through a barrier raised across the 30 metres (98ft) by 13 metres (42ft) testing area, he will seek out targets marked with an "X".

Click below to watch Claire McGlasson's report from the original unveiling of the Rover back in 2012.