Richmond high-tech firm MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) is on a mission to Mars.
Last week, the European Space Agency announced the company will provide the drive system for the rover vehicle in the ExoMars 2018 program.
The rover's main task will be to search for evidence of life, past or present, beneath the surface of the Red Planet.
"After landing on the Martian surface it will be MDA's contribution that gets the mission rolling to undertake surface operations," said MDA's Don
Osborne, Vice President responsible for this business at MDA.
The value of MDA's contract is approximately $2.5 million.
The ExoMars program will send several spacecraft to Mars on two launches. First up in 2016 are the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and EDM stationary lander.
The stationary lander will map the sources of methane on Mars and other gases, and in doing so, help select the landing site for the ExoMars rover to be launched in 2018.
