Mars rover

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Template:Short description Template:About

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.

Template:As of, there have been six successful robotically operated Mars rovers; the first five, managed by the American NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, were (by date of Mars landing): Sojourner (1997), Spirit (2004–2010), Opportunity (2004–2018), Curiosity (2012–present), and Perseverance (2021–present). The sixth, managed by the China National Space Administration, is Zhurong (2021–2022).

On January 24, 2016, NASA reported that ongoing studies on Mars by Opportunity and Curiosity would be searching for evidence of ancient life, including a biosphere based on autotrophic, chemotrophic or chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms, as well as ancient water, including fluvio-lacustrine environments (plains related to ancient rivers or lakes) that may have been habitable.<ref name="SCI-20140124a">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="SCI-20140124special">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="SCI-20140124">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="SCI-20140124c">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The search for evidence of habitability, taphonomy (related to fossils), and organic carbon on Mars has become a primary NASA objective.<ref name="SCI-20140124a" /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The Soviet probes, Mars 2 and Mars 3, were physically tethered probes; Sojourner was dependent on the Mars Pathfinder base station for communication with Earth; Opportunity, Spirit and Curiosity were on their own. As of April 27, 2025, Curiosity is still active, while Spirit, Opportunity, and Sojourner completed their missions before losing contact. On February 18, 2021, Perseverance, the newest American Mars rover, successfully landed. On May 14, 2021, China's Zhurong became the first non-American rover to successfully operate on Mars.

Missions

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Active

Past

  • Template:Flagdeco Sojourner rover, Mars Pathfinder, landed successfully on July 4, 1997. Communications were lost on September 27, 1997. Sojourner had traveled a distance of just over Template:Convert.<ref name="Sojourner">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Template:Flagdeco Spirit (MER-A), Mars Exploration Rover (MER), launched on June 10, 2003,<ref name="Mars Exploration">Template:Cite web</ref> and landed on January 4, 2004. Nearly six years after the original mission limit, Spirit had covered a total distance of Template:Convert but its wheels became trapped in sand.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The last communication received from the rover was on March 22, 2010, and NASA ceased attempts to re-establish communication on May 25, 2011.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Template:Flagdeco Opportunity (MER-B), Mars Exploration Rover, launched on July 7, 2003<ref name="Mars Exploration" /> and landed on January 25, 2004. Opportunity surpassed the previous records for longevity at 5,352 sols (5498 Earth days from landing to mission end; 15 Earth years or 8 Martian years) and covered Template:Convert. The rover sent its last status on 10 June 2018 when a global 2018 Mars dust storm blocked the sunlight needed to recharge its batteries.<ref name="nasa.gov">Template:Cite web</ref> After hundreds of attempts to reactivate the rover, NASA declared the mission complete on February 13, 2019.
  • Template:Flagdeco Zhurong launched with the Tianwen-1 CNSA Mars mission on July 23, 2020, landed on May 14, 2021, in the southern region of Utopia Planitia, and deployed on May 22, 2021, while dropping a remote selfie camera on 1 June 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Designed for a lifespan of 90 sols (93 Earth days),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Zhurong had been active for 347 sols (356.5 days) since its deployment and traveled on Mars's surface for Template:Cvt.<ref name="zhurong_2205">Template:Cite web</ref> Since 20 May 2022, the rover was deactivated due to approaching sandstorms and Martian winter.<ref name="nature_230120">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="vice_2303">Template:Cite web</ref> But the larger-than-expected build-up of dust covering its solar panels prevented it from self-reactivation. On 25 April 2023, the mission designer Zhang Rongqiao announced that the buildup of dust from the last inactivation is greater than planned, indicating the rover could be inactive "forever".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Failed

  • Template:Flagicon image Mars 2, PrOP-M rover, 1971, Mars 2 landing failed, destroying Prop-M with it. The Mars 2 and 3 spacecraft from the Soviet Union had identical Template:Convert Prop-M rovers. They were to move on skis while connected to the landers with cables.<ref name=Mars2_NSSDC>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Template:Flagicon image Mars 3, PrOP-M rover, landed successfully on December 2, 1971. Template:Convert rover tethered to the Mars 3 lander. Lost when the Mars 3 lander stopped communicating about 110 seconds after landing.<ref name="Mars2_NSSDC" /> The loss of communication may have been due to the extremely powerful Martian dust storm taking place at the time, or an issue with the Mars 3 orbiter's ability to relay communications.

Planned

Proposed

  • Mars Tumbleweed Rover, a spherical wind-propelled rover. The concept was first investigated by NASA in the early 2000s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>The Tumbleweed Rover is on a Roll. Template:Webarchive Anna Heiney, KSC NASA. 11 March 2004.</ref> Since 2017, Team Tumbleweed has been developing a series of Tumbleweed Rovers. The research organization aims to land a swarm of 90 Tumbleweed rovers on the Martian surface by 2034.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Undeveloped

Timeline of rover surface operations

<timeline>
  1. Rover Surface Operations

ImageSize = width:1200 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = left:50 right:130 bottom:20 top:10 AlignBars = late

Colors = 

 id:NASA      value:blue  # National Aeronautics and Space Administration
 id:CNSA      value:red # China National Space Administration

DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:1997 till:{{#time:m/d/Y}} TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1997 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1997

Define $today = {{#time:m/d/Y}}

Define $dx = 25

BarData = 

 bar:Sojourner
 bar:Spirit
 bar:Opportunity
 bar:Curiosity
 bar:Perseverence
 bar:Zhurong

PlotData= 

 width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till

 bar:Sojourner
 from:07/04/1997   till:09/27/1997   color:NASA   text:Sojourner

 bar:Spirit
 from:01/04/2004   till:03/22/2010   color:NASA   text:Spirit

 bar:Opportunity
 from:01/25/2004   till:06/10/2018   color:NASA   text:Opportunity

 bar:Curiosity
 from:08/06/2012   till:end   color:NASA   text:Curiosity

 bar:Perseverence
 from:02/18/2021   till:end   color:NASA   text:Perseverance

 bar:Zhurong
 from:05/14/2021   till:05/20/2022   color:CNSA   text:Zhurong

</timeline>

Examples of instruments

Curiosity's (MSL) rover "hand" featuring a suite of instruments on a rotating "wrist". Mount Sharp is in the background (September 8, 2012).
OpportunityTemplate:'s first self-portrait including the camera mast on Mars
(February 14−20, 2018 / sols 4998−5004). It was taken with its microscopic imager instrument.

Examples of instruments onboard landed rovers include:

Template:Clear

Mars Landing Sites (December 16, 2020)

NASA Mars rover goals

Circa the 2010s, NASA had established certain goals for the rover program.

NASA distinguishes between "mission" objectives and "science" objectives. Mission objectives are related to progress in space technology and development processes. Science objectives are met by the instruments during their mission in space.

The science instruments are chosen and designed based on the science objectives and goals. The primary goal of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers was to investigate "the history of water on Mars".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The four science goals of NASA's long-term Mars Exploration Program are:

Template:Wide image

  • Mars rovers
  • PrOP-M, failed Soviet rover
    PrOP-M, failed Soviet rover
  • NASA's Sojourner rover on Mars
    NASA's Sojourner rover on Mars
  • Comparison of wheels: Sojourner rover, MER (Opportunity and Spirit), Curiosity
    Comparison of wheels: Sojourner rover, MER (Opportunity and Spirit), Curiosity
  • Comparison: MER, Sojourner rover, Curiosity
    Comparison: MER, Sojourner rover, Curiosity
  • Comparison: MER, Sojourner rover, humans, Curiosity
    Comparison: MER, Sojourner rover, humans, Curiosity
  • Zhurong, first Chinese Mars rover
    Zhurong, first Chinese Mars rover
  • Perseverance and Ingenuity
    Perseverance and Ingenuity
  • Rosalind Franklin, planned ESA rover
    Rosalind Franklin, planned ESA rover
Comparison of the distances travelled by various Mars rovers

See also

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References

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Template:Mars rovers Template:Features and artificial objects on Mars Template:NASA navbox Template:Mars spacecraft Template:Portal bar

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