A Mars rover is a remote-controlled

motor vehicle A motor vehicle, also known as a motorized vehicle, automotive vehicle, automobile, or road vehicle, is a self-propelled land vehicle, commonly wheeled, that does not operate on railway track, rails (such as trains or trams), does not fly (such ...

designed to travel on the surface of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

. 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

robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

ic vehicle control. They serve a different purpose than orbital spacecraft like '' Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter''. A more recent development is the Mars helicopter. , there have been six successful robotically operated Mars rovers; the first five, managed by the American

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by California Institute of Technology (Caltech) research ...

, were (by date of Mars landing): '' Sojourner'' (1997), '' Spirit'' (2004–2010), '' Opportunity'' (2004–2018), ''

Curiosity Curiosity (from Latin , from "careful, diligent, curious", akin to "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking, such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident in humans and other animals. Curiosity helps Developmental psyc ...

'' (2012–present), and '' Perseverance'' (2021–present). The sixth, managed by the

China National Space Administration The China National Space Administration (CNSA) is a government agency of the People's Republic of China headquartered in Haidian District, Haidian, Beijing, responsible for civil space administration and international space cooperation. These ...

, is '' Zhurong'' (2021–2022). On January 24, 2016,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

reported that then current studies on Mars by ''Opportunity'' and ''Curiosity'' would be searching for evidence of ancient life, including a

biosphere The biosphere (), also called the ecosphere (), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be termed the zone of life on the Earth. The biosphere (which is technically a spherical shell) is virtually a closed system with regard to mat ...

based on

autotroph An autotroph is an organism that can convert Abiotic component, abiotic sources of energy into energy stored in organic compounds, which can be used by Heterotroph, other organisms. Autotrophs produce complex organic compounds (such as carbohy ...

ic,

chemotroph A chemotroph is an organism that obtains energy by the oxidation of electron donors in their environments. These molecules can be organic ( chemoorganotrophs) or inorganic ( chemolithotrophs). The chemotroph designation is in contrast to phot ...

ic or chemolithoautotrophic

microorganism A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic scale, microscopic size, which may exist in its unicellular organism, single-celled form or as a Colony (biology)#Microbial colonies, colony of cells. The possible existence of unseen ...

s, as well as ancient water, including fluvio-lacustrine environments (

plain In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...

s related to ancient

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s or

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s) that may have been habitable. The search for evidence of habitability, taphonomy (related to

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

), and organic carbon on Mars is now a primary NASA objective. The Soviet probes, Mars 2 and Mars 3, were physically tethered probes; ''Sojourner'' was dependent on the ''

Mars Pathfinder ''Mars Pathfinder'' was an American robotic spacecraft that landed a base station with a rover (space exploration), roving probe on Mars in 1997. It consisted of a Lander (spacecraft), lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and a ligh ...

'' base station for communication with Earth; ''Opportunity'', ''Spirit'' and ''Curiosity'' were on their own. As of 27 April 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

Multiple rovers have been dispatched to Mars:

Active

* ''

'' of the

Mars Science Laboratory Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic spacecraft, robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed ''Curiosity (rover), Curiosity'', a Mars rover, in Gale (crater), Gale Crater on Augus ...

(MSL) mission by NASA, was launched November 26, 2011 and landed at the Aeolis Palus plain near Aeolis Mons (informally "Mount Sharp") in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012. The ''Curiosity'' rover is still operational as of 2025. * '' Perseverance'' is NASA's rover based on the successful ''Curiosity'' design. Launched with the

Mars 2020 Mars 2020 is a NASA mission that includes the rover ''Perseverance (rover), Perseverance'', the now-retired small robotic helicopter ''Ingenuity (helicopter), Ingenuity'', and associated delivery systems, as part of the Mars Exploration Progra ...

mission on July 30, 2020, it landed on February 18, 2021. It carried the Mars helicopter ''Ingenuity'' attached to its belly. Although ''Ingenuity'''s mission has ended, ''Perseverance'' remains operational as of March 2025.

Past

* '' Sojourner'' rover,

, landed successfully on July 4, 1997. Communications were lost on September 27, 1997. ''Sojourner'' had traveled a distance of just over . * '' Spirit'' (MER-A),

Mars Exploration Rover NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission was a robotic space mission involving two Mars rovers, ''Spirit (rover), Spirit'' and ''Opportunity (rover), Opportunity'', exploring the planet Mars. It began in 2003 with the launch of the two rove ...

(MER), launched on June 10, 2003, and landed on January 4, 2004. Nearly six years after the original mission limit, ''Spirit'' had covered a total distance of but its wheels became trapped in sand. The last communication received from the rover was on March 22, 2010, and NASA ceased attempts to re-establish communication on May 25, 2011. * '' Opportunity'' (MER-B), Mars Exploration Rover, launched on July 7, 2003 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 . 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. After hundreds of attempts to reactivate the rover, NASA declared the mission complete on February 13, 2019. * '' 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. Designed for a lifespan of 90 sols (93 Earth days), ''Zhurong'' had been active for 347 sols (356.5 days) since its deployment and traveled on Mars's surface for . Since 20 May 2022, the rover was deactivated due to approaching sandstorms and Martian winter. 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".

Failed

* '' 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 ''Prop-M'' rovers. They were to move on skis while connected to the landers with cables. * '' Mars 3'', '' PrOP-M'' rover, landed successfully on December 2, 1971. rover tethered to the Mars 3 lander. Lost when the ''Mars 3'' lander stopped communicating about 110 seconds after landing. 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

* ESA's ExoMars rover ''Rosalind Franklin'' was confirmed technically ready for launch in March 2022 and planned to launch in September 2022, but due to the suspension of cooperation with Roscosmos this is delayed until at least 2028. A fast-track study was started to determine alternative launch options. * The Russian Moscow Aviation Institute and the Indian IIT are jointly developing a fixed-wing Mars UAV which is scheduled for launch in late 2025.

Proposed

* The

JAXA The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into o ...

Melos rover was supposed to be launched in 2022. JAXA has not given an update since 2015. *

Mars Geyser Hopper *

ISRO The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), overseen by the Prime Minister o ...

has proposed a Mars rover as part of Mars Lander Mission, its second Mars mission in 2030. * ''Mars Tumbleweed Rover'', a spherical wind-propelled rover. The concept was first investigated by

in the early 2000s. 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.

Undeveloped

* Marsokhod was proposed to be a part of Russian Mars 96 mission. * Astrobiology Field Laboratory, proposed in the 2000-2010 period as a follow on to MSL. * Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher (MAX-C), cancelled 2011 * Mars Surveyor 2001 rover * Cushion-air rovers

Timeline of rover surface operations

Examples of instruments

Examples of instruments onboard landed rovers include: * Alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (MPF + MER + MSL) * CheMin (MSL) *

Chemistry and Camera complex Chemistry and Camera complex (ChemCam) is a suite of remote sensing instruments on Mars for the Curiosity (rover), ''Curiosity'' rover. As the name implies, ChemCam is actually two different instruments combined as one: a laser-induced breakdown ...

(MSL) *

Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons The Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument is an experiment mounted on the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity (rover), ''Curiosity'' rover. It is a pulsed sealed-tube neutron source and detector used to measure hydrogen or ice and water at or ...

(MSL) * Hazcam (MER + MSL + M20) * MarsDial (MER + MSL + M20) * Materials Adherence Experiment (MPF) * MIMOS II (MER) * Mini-TES (MER) * Mars Hand Lens Imager (MSL) * Navcam (MER + MSL + M20+TW1) * Pancam (MER) * Rock Abrasion Tool (MER) * Radiation assessment detector (MSL) * Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (MSL) * Sample Analysis at Mars (MSL) * EDL cameras on Rover (MSL + M20+TW1) * Cachecam (M20) * Mastcam-Z (M20) * MEDA (M20) *

Microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic (), or mike, is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and publi ...

s (M20+TW1) * MOXIE (M20) * PIXL (M20) * RIMFAX (M20) * SHERLOC (M20) * SuperCam (M20) * Remote Camera (TW1) PIA24320-MarsLandingSites-20201216

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 Space technology is technology for use in outer space. Space technology includes space vehicles such as spacecraft, satellites, space stations and orbital spaceflight, orbital launch vehicles; :Spacecraft communication, deep-space communication; :S ...

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". The four science goals of NASA's long-term Mars Exploration Program are: * Determine whether life ever arose on Mars * Characterize the climate of Mars * Characterize the

geology of Mars The geology of Mars is the scientific study of the surface, crust, and interior of the planet Mars. It emphasizes the composition, structure, history, and physical processes that shape the planet. It is analogous to the field of terrestrial geo ...

* Prepare for human exploration of Mars

Gallery

Image:Sojourner on Mars PIA01122.jpg, ''Sojourner'' rover on Mars Image:h rover-comp wheels 02.jpg, Comparison of wheels: Mars ''Sojourner'' rover, MER, MSL Image:Mars Science Laboratory mockup comparison.jpg, Comparison (2008): MER, ''Sojourner'' rover, MSL Image:PIA15279 3rovers-stand D2011 1215 D521.jpg, Comparison (2011): MER, ''Sojourner'' rover, humans, MSL

References

External links

NASA official Mars Rover website

Mars Pathfinder Gallery
(NASA)
Pictures of Mars by Rovers

All Rovers on Mars
{{Portal bar, Solar System, Spaceflight Mars +rovers Landers (spacecraft) Mars robots