2 European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts are set to begin checking out Mars after they land on toy store shelves later this week.Playmobil, in cooperation with ESA, is set to release its “Mars Expedition” playset in Europe and the United Kingdom on Friday (Dec. 17). The co-branded toy consists of whatever that children ages 6 to 12 need to stage their own fictional objective on the Red Planet, consisting of 2 Playmobil ESA astronauts, an ESA-branded Mars rover with working light and sounds, a Mars trike, a drilling station and an ESA research study laboratory.”Were currently sending out rovers and probes to Mars, however people will eventually go to there and it will be the kids these days who will, one day, set foot on the Red Planet,” Emmet Fletcher, head of ESAs branding and partnerships office, stated in a declaration. “Developing ESA-themed toys assists children picture how they would explore this brand-new world.”Related: Playmobil reveals legendary Star Trek USS Enterprise NCC-1701 playsetPackaging for Playmobils new Mars Expedition playset co-branded with the European Space Agency (ESA). (Image credit: Playmobil)The Playmobil Mars Expedition set, which retails for EUR39.99 (or $64.99 when it goes on sale in the U.S. on Jan. 1, 2022), is imitated ESAs and NASAs joint goal of gathering, caching and returning samples from Mars.”The [playsets] drill is used to browse for minerals in the rocks. If astronauts discover something interesting, they switch the drill accessory for the gripper arm and carefully get the item. At the research study station, all samples are examined in detail,” Playmobil composed in its item description. “To cover much shorter ranges, the astronauts utilize the maneuverable Mars trike. Rock samples can be stowed in the loading box at the front of the trike.”A comparable series of occasions are now underway on Mars using NASAs Perseverance robotic rover. The six-wheeled explorer utilizes a drill to extract rock samples to be separately cached and left on the Martian surface area for a future objective to collect, release off the planet and eventually return to Earth.ESA is dealing with NASA to explore mission ideas for a global Mars sample return project in between 2026 and 2030. The sample return is the latest in a series of Mars missions undertaken by ESA. Mars Express has actually been in orbit around Mars given that 2003 and was signed up with by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter in 2016. ESAs ExoMars objective continues with the Rosalind Franklin rover and the Russian Kazachok surface area platform, which are prepared for launch in 2022. Playmobils Mars Expedition playset consists of 2 European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts, an ESA co-branded rover, a Mars trike, a drilling station and an ESA lab, amongst other devices. (Image credit: Playmobil)The Mars Expedition set continues a cooperation between ESA and Playmobil. In 2019, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano was joined on the International Space Station by two Playmobil figures made in his similarity. Duplicates of the 3-inch-tall (7.5-cm) figures were offered to the general public with copies of a special problem of Playmobil Magazine.More just recently, Playmobil announced that its robotic figure “ROBert” will launch to the spaceport station in 2022 to sign up with German astronaut Matthias Maurer as part of his “Cosmic Kiss” ESA mission.A comparable robotic figure is consisted of in the brand-new ESA-branded Mars Expedition set.”Playmobil has been producing toys as long as ESA has actually been exploring area. Their interest, experience and knowledge has actually been critical in designing this practical, ambitious toy for children throughout Europe,” stated Fletcher.Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2021 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.
Two European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts are set to start exploring Mars after they land on toy store racks later this week.Playmobil, in cooperation with ESA, is set to release its “Mars Expedition” playset in Europe and the United Kingdom on Friday (Dec. 17). The co-branded toy includes whatever that kids ages 6 to 12 need to stage their own imaginary mission on the Red Planet, including two Playmobil ESA astronauts, an ESA-branded Mars rover with working light and sounds, a Mars trike, a drilling station and an ESA research lab. (Image credit: Playmobil)The Playmobil Mars Expedition set, which retails for EUR39.99 (or $64.99 when it goes on sale in the U.S. on Jan. 1, 2022), is modeled after ESAs and NASAs joint goal of collecting, caching and returning samples from Mars. Playmobils Mars Expedition playset includes two European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts, an ESA co-branded rover, a Mars trike, a drilling station and an ESA research laboratory, amongst other accessories.