Esa member states will meet for the Critical Design Review. This will consider every aspect and is really the last chance to change some aspect of the mission. There may be some tinkering at the edges, but the broad scope will not alter. There have been difficulties related to the "Analytical Drawer", which will hold ExoMars’ life-seeking instruments.
A leak was found in the test model for this box and a membrane also failed. "But, OK, this is why you do testing," said ExoMars project scientist Jorge Vago.
"Overall, I think we’re on a good track to complete everything we need to do. We have margin. It could be better, but we’re not working double shifts and on weekends, which is what you see on most projects towards the end."
ExoMars is a joint venture with the Russians. They’re building the descent module – the mechanism that gets the rover down to the surface once it enters the planet’s atmosphere.
A structural model of this system is also in production, and when the rover completes its Toulouse exams, there will be a fit check in Moscow and undergo another round of testing as a combined unit.