Mars rover
Sign in to saveAlso known as Mars rovers
space exploration vehicle designed to move across the surface of Mars
~11 min read
Encyclopedic overview
NASA's Curiosity rover, selfie, 2015
A Mars rover is a remote-controlled motor vehicle designed to travel on the surface of Mars. Rovers have several advantages over stationary landers: they examine more territory, they can be directed to interesting features, they can place themselves in sunny positions to weather winter months, and they can advance the knowledge of how to perform very remote robotic vehicle control. They serve a different purpose than orbital spacecraft like Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. A more recent development is the Mars helicopter.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Mars rover” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.