The Stevenage built £23m Mars rover axed by NASA could be heading to the moon instead.

Out of work and driving around a quarry - salvaging a £23m space project is no mean feat.

Yet that is what could happen to the North Herts engineered Mars rover which could be repurposed for a mission to the moon.

The rover is currently being put through its paces at a quarry in Bedfordshire after NASA axed its original programme which was to collect sample tubes left on the surface of Mars by Perseverance, which landed on the red planet in February 2021.

However, European Space Agency (ESA) and the American space agency announced The Sample Fetch Rover (SFR) was deemed surplus to requirements longer.

The Mars rover, built by Airbus at Stevenage in the UK. CREDIT: Airbus

The shock decision came as a blow to engineers from Airbus in Stevenage - who had been working on the SFR since 2018 - and are now aiming for new uses for the space craft.

Thankfully, that could include the Artemis programme that aims to send astronauts to the moon once again - while preparing the way for human missions to Mars.

Ben Dobke, project manager at Airbus, said: "Even though the mission may have faded away, the core technology is still ready and able to go and this is kind of the final step in proving that it works.

"With the Artemis programme happening at the end of the decade, the focus has started shifting towards the moon.

"So any rovers or autonomous vehicles on the moon, this software can certainly be applied to that in the future."